Alter Ego
by Midnight Conversations
Summary: There were a number of times where Barry Allen had to switch into the alter ego he used in high school, Sebastian Smythe. This is a collection of the numerous times he had to do so.
1. The birth of Sebastian Smythe

Barry was having quite the relaxing afternoon. There were no meta-humans to fight, and crime was low, giving the young forensic scientist a break from the outside world. He was lying on the couch in the home he shares with his surrogate father Joe, watching re-runs of the old crime shows that got him into forensics in the first place. Joe was sitting in the lazy-boy chair next to the couch, going through the mail.

"Hey Barry, do you know a Sebastian Smythe?" Joe asked abruptly, startling Barry. It's been a while since the Scarlet Knight had heard his old name.

"Umm, yeah. Why'd you ask?" Barry asked nervously.

"A letter came for him from your old school, Dalton Academy. I think it's about your high school reunion. The school must've mixed up the letters, he probably has yours. Do you have his number?" Joe inquired.

"Ah, no. Sebastian and I weren't really close. But it's no big deal, the only difference between the letters is the name written in the top corner." Barry answered persistently.

Thankfully, Joe didn't notice the subtle desperation in Barry's voice as he dropped the topic. "If you insist. Have you heard about the latest case? Apparently…"

Barry let out a small sigh of relief as he tuned out whatever it was Joe was saying. It seemed like forever ago when Barry first became his alter ego, Sebastian Smythe. Halfway through high school, Barry grew sick of the constant tormenting and bullying, so he spent the entire summer before his junior year in Paris with his Moms brother, Uncle Richard. It was in a small café near his uncle's penthouse, where Sebastian Smythe was born.

_Flashback_

_It was Barry's first week staying in Paris, making it the first time in a while where he wasn't constantly looking over his shoulder, in order to make sure that no one followed him. It was quite relaxing, although unnerving. _

_When Barry returned to Central City in Ohio, he planned on transferring to another school for the remainder of his high school career. The academic curriculum in public school wasn't rigorous enough for him anymore, and private school not only offered a better program, but it looked much better on college applications then any public school. So far, he had his eyes set on Dalton Academy, an all boys Prep School. It wasn't too far from central, and Barry didn't mind the idea of taking a train every day. It was an ideal school. Of course, it was quite expensive, though Barry had no doubt that he could easily get a scholarship. His grades and credentials were stellar, making him the perfect scholarship candidate. The only thing left for him to do was to pass the entrance exam, which was what brought him to this small, yet cozy café a block away from his temporary residence. It was quite hard to study for a test when his younger cousins were constantly trying to grab his attention. _

_Upon entering, he made his way to the counter, where a pretty girl, who looked around his age, asked him for his order. When he told her he wanted a mocha latte, she said, in remarkable English, "You're not from around here, are you?"_

_Barry was quite startled at this. He had been taking French his whole life, in an effort so that he may be able to converse with his mother's side of the family, since she herself was half French. His accent was nothing less then perfect, so he was indeed confused when this girl, whom he had just met, was able to tell that he wasn't a native._

"_How did you know?" He asked in English._

_She gave him a smirk as she replied in her ever-present French accent, " I can just tell. But let me recommend something for you while you're here. Have a shot of Courvoisier in your coffee, it'll make it taste much better."_

_At first, Barry was quite skeptical. What kind of person puts Courvoisier in their coffee? But he came to Paris in an effort to try and experience new things. If anything, it was his curiosity that answered for him, "Go for it. After all, natives do know best."_

_As she made his coffee, she kept making small talk with him. "So, how long are you going to be in Paris?"_

"_Three months. I'm staying with some family." He answered._

"_You know, you're my last customer for the day. I clock out of work in 2 minutes." She told him with a sly smile._

"_Well then, feel free to join me." Barry easily replied, completely forgetting the fact that he came there to study._

"_Names Éclair." She told him with her hand out-stretched. _

_Barry hesitated before answering. This was his chance to finally break out of his socially awkward shell that had been built through years of constant bullying and torment._

_So with a smirk, he returned the handshake, "Sebastian. Sebastian Smythe. _

_End of Flashback_

Barry spent the rest of his vacation developing his new alter ego. He became over confident, to the point of sheer arrogance. He wasn't afraid of doing whatever it was that he wanted. He also became somewhat of a womanizer. He effectively seduced a number of women, thanks to his good friend Éclairs tutelage. However, he had decided that when he attended Dalton, he would pretend to be gay. After all, what fun would it be to if he were a straight womanizer at an all boys school?

As expected, he passed the entrance exam to Dalton easily, making him become one of the only scholarship student to ever attend. The easiest part of the whole charade however, was hacking into the schools mainframe, and changing his name from one Barry Allen, to Sebastian Smythe.

Sebastian was the person Barry always was, but was afraid to show the world, a confident, charming, witty, sarcastic, and talented young man. Barry was quickly able to master switching between his two personalities, and more often then not, he used this particular skill to his advantage. At home, he was Barry Allen. But the second he wore his Dalton blazer, he became Sebastian Smythe. Joe and Iris never did find out about his separate identity, and for the time being, Barry planned to keep it that way. The only people to have ever known both Barry and Sebastian were his closest friends in Dalton. That of course meant it was limited to Jeff, Nick, Thad, Blaine, and surprisingly Kurt, who he has been friends with ever since the latter found out that Barry wasn't really gay and trying to steal his boyfriend.

After finishing his one-sided conversation with Joe, Barry sped upstairs and dialed a number he couldn't bring himself to forget. A familiar voice answered the phone efficiently, "Hello, thank you for calling Dalton Academy. This is Ariel from registration speaking."

Barry smirked as he replied, "Hey Ariel. It's Sebastian Smythe, I'd like to confirm my attendance to the reunion."


	2. Lacrosse

Barry was hard at work in his laboratory, as he looked over the incomprehensible chemical equations spewed out in the board in front of him. Well incomprehensible to everyone other then him of course. He stared at the board with such incredible dedication and focus, that he almost didn't here someone come in.

Expecting it to be Joe again, he said without looking at the intruder, "Two visits in one day? Wow, I certainly feel special."

"That's funny. I don't remember visiting you." Barry turned to look at the person, and to his surprise, he realized it was Eddie.

"Huh, what brings the great Detective Thawne to my humble sanctuary? Did Iris or Joe need something?" Barry asked as he turned his attention to a file in front of him.

Eddie shook his head in response as he stepped closer to where Barry was sitting. "No no, nothing like that. I don't know if Iris told you or not, but a few of my cousins from Happy Harbor are coming to town this weekend."

Barry momentarily paused his writing as he tried to remember, "Uh yeah, I think she mentioned something about that. Why?"

"Well you see, I don't exactly have many friends here in Central. But this weekend we're going to all have a picnic at the park, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with us. Joe and Iris will be there as well, and feel free to invite your friends.

At this, Barry stopped what he was doing all together and turned his full attention to Eddie. He couldn't remember the last time Detective Pretty Boy ever invited him to do something, yet here he was asking him to intrude in what is obviously a family picnic. "No offense Eddie, but why invite me? We aren't exactly the best of friends."

"True. But you are my girlfriend's best friend, practically her brother. And contrary to popular belief, I actually do want to get to know you more as a friend. We both obviously care deeply for Iris, and it'll mean a lot to her to see us getting along. So I thought, what better peace offering then inviting you out with my family? So what do you say?"

"Sure, I don't see why not. I'll get the details from Iris later." Barry finally agreed.

"Great! And I was serious about you inviting your friends. Cisco and Caitlyn are good company."

"Thanks, I'll tell the about it tonight."

"Alright, well I better get back to work. Later Barry." Eddie said as he exited the lab.

"Later." Barry called after him, before returning back to his own work.

_**LATER THAT NIGHT**_

That night at Star Labs, Barry relayed the conversation with Eddie for Cisco and Caitlyn while he was running the treadmill.

"Aw that's sweet. He's trying to get on better terms with you." Caitlyn said while monitoring his vitals.

"Yeah, I guess. So, are you guys in? I would really appreciate it if you guys were there, it would make it an infinite times less awkward." Barry said.

"Aww Barry! Are you going sentimental on us?" Cisco asked in a condescending manner, resulting in Caitlyn hitting him upside the head.

"What this idiot means to say, so that we would love to go with you guys to the picnic." Caitlyn answered.

"You know, if Eddie wasn't already in love with Iris, I would think he was trying to make a move on you." Cisco said with his ever-present grin.

"Haha, very funny. Although, I think I would know if a guy were hitting on me." Barry said with a hint or arrogant pride seeping through his thinly concealed persona.

"Oh come on Barry, let's be real. You can't even tell if a girls obviously hitting on you. How on earth do you think you can somehow see a guys flirtation?" Cisco asked.

With a slight smirk on his face, Barry answered, "Easily. I went to an all guys school."

"I swear Barry, when you make comments like that, I wonder if you really were gay at one point. Is that why you were initially mad about Iris and Eddie hooking up? Did you have the hot's for Detective Pretty Boy?" Cisco mocked in a teasing tone.

With that poorly timed comment, Barry found himself loosing his footing, flying off the treadmill, only to crash into the wall.

"Ouch." Cisco said with a grimace.

_**THE NEXT MORNING**_

The following morning brought Barry to Jitters, where he had coffee with Iris. She had been excited all morning, ever since Barry told Iris that Eddie invited him to the picnic, which for some reason Eddie forgot to mention it to her.

"Ok, so Eddie was four cousins that are coming over, all male. The eldest is named Daniel who's 29, then comes Kyle who's 27, then Louis at 25, and the youngest is Ryan who's 23. They're all super athletic and they run a small hunting and athletic equipment store together back in Happy Harbor." Iris all but lectured Barry.

"Iris, relax. It's going to go fine. I'm sure we'll all get along splendidly." Barry said with a small smile as he drunk his coffee (which may or may not have had a shot of Courvoisier in it).

Iris, looking slightly offended replied, "I know that! Last time they came, we had a great time! It's just that, and don't take this the wrong way, but they aren't exactly people who you typically hang out with. They don't understand science, and they're more into sports then academics. I just don't want you to be bored is all."

Barry just laughed as he tried to ease her worries, "Like I said Iris, it's fine! You're going to be there and if you're busy, Cisco and Caitlyn are tagging along too."

Iris, finally reassured, laughed in response. "You're right, as usual. I'm just over reacting. Saturday is going to pass without a hitch."

_**Saturday Afternoon**_

It was finally the day of the picnic, and Barry found himself arriving at the park just in time to see everyone getting ready. Joe was conversing with the four Thawne brothers, as Eddie was helping Iris with the barbecue. Cisco and Caitlyn bailed on him last minute, because apparently Dr. Wells needed there help with something at Star Labs.

As he approached the group, Iris spotted him, and ran over to give him a hug, which he of course returned. She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the small group of bulky young men.

"So guys, this is my best friend Barry, the one I was telling you guys about. Barry, these are Eddies cousins, Daniel, Kyle, Louis, and Ryan." She said pointing at each man as she called out his name.

"It's nice to finally meet you guys." Barry said to them politely.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too Barry. Iris never shuts up about you." Kyle said mockingly.

"Should I be worried?" Barry asked without realizing that he was slightly slipping into his alter ego.

"That depends. What do you consider to be worrisome?" Kyle asked with a smirk. Oh yeah, Barry was now sure that they were flirting.

"Ok Romeo, you can stop the not so subtle flirting. Hate to break it to you, but my friend Barry here is straight." Eddie told Kyle.

"Well that's too bad. You could have been the perfect boyfriend." Kyle said with a teasing smile.

"I'm quite aware. I'm a tease to the entire gay community, and I feel that I have to apologize beforehand for I can't real in the beauty that is me." Barry said jokingly.

Iris, Joe, and Eddie just stared at Barry in shock, not quite used to this side of him. Realizing what he was unintentionally doing, Barry reeled in his separate persona.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Barry asked in an almost desperate attempt to direct the attention away from him. Although the second he noticed Eddie's growing smile he wished he had asked a different question.

"Well, that's funny that you asked Allen. You see, right before you came, the guys and I were talking about putting on a lacrosse game, but we were a member short. Now that you're here, it'll be an even game."

All Barry could do was stare at Eddie in stunned silence, "You have got to be kidding me."

"Sorry, but nope. Playing lacrosse at picnics is an old Thawne family tradition, and playing a game with only five people isn't exactly fair." Daniel told him.

"Why can't Joe play with you? He's athletic." Barry asked in a desperate attempt to get out of this situation.

Joe just laughed as he answered Barry, "Sorry kiddo, but I got to save my energy for the job. I'm not as young as I used to be."

"That's never something you want to hear your partner say." Eddie said.

"But seriously Barry, just play one game! It'll be fun!" Ryan tried to persuade Barry.

"No way in hell." Barry told them firmly.

"Come one Barry! Please! Just one game! For me?" Iris asked using the puppy dog eyes and pout. For a minute there, Barry cursed his surrogate sister for knowing his weakness before his resolve began to slowly crumble.

"But I don't have any equipment." Barry said hoping for a way out of the game.

"Don't worry about that, we came prepared. " Louis told him smugly. _Of course they did_ Barry thought.

"Fine, I'll play your stupid game." Barry said, finally giving into their eager persistence.

"Atta boy! You do know the rules right?" Eddie asked, for the first time considering Barry knowledge on the sport.

"I went to a prep school." Barry deadpanned.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." Ryan said, as he got up to fetch their equipment.

Joe leaned over to Barry and with a hushed whisper that only he could hear, he asked, "Your speed won't be a problem, right?"

With an equally hushed voice, Barry replied, "Nope, not at all. I have perfect control over it."

Even though Barry agreed to play, he wasn't particularly happy about it. It wasn't the fact that he wasn't good at the sport; on the contrary he was amazing at it. Back in high school, Barry, or at the time "Sebastian", was the captain of Dalton's lacrosse team. He single handedly led his team to nationals, claiming numerous trophies and achievements in the process. The only part of the whole situation that made Barry uncomfortable was the fact that lacrosse and athleticism was more of Barry's alter personality. No one here had a clue on how good Barry actually was at lacrosse, although something told him they would find out soon enough.

As they got their equipment and began setting up for the game, a small smile crept on to Barry's face. He would be severely underestimated, and he could use that to his advantage. After all, the sooner he won this game, the sooner he could stop playing. The teams were Barry, Eddie, and Louis against Daniel, Ryan, and Kyle. Louis and Kyle were acting as goalies. Iris and Joe sat on the sidelines cheering them on. Barry and Daniel met up in the middle to see who gets the ball first. As soon as Joe blew the whistle, Barry swept up the ball with incredible speed, and ran towards the opposite goal. He easily side stepped Ryan, who tried to knock him down, and with a quick yet powerful swing, he sent the ball speeding towards the goal, flying between Kyle's legs, and effectively scoring a goal for his team. His team went wild as Joe and Iris cheered them on. To say they were shocked would be an understatement, but they were to hyped up on adrenaline to wonder how the hell it was that Barry go so good at lacrosse.

The game ended soon enough, with Barry's team easily winning. As they sat at the picnic table, eating there lunch, Iris exclaimed, "I had no idea you were so good at lacrosse Barry!"

With a shrug, Barry said, " Thanks Iris. But it wasn't that impressive."

"Are you kidding me Barry? That was amazing!" Joe cried.

"Thanks Joe." Barry once again said, growing slightly uncomfortable with all of the attention.

"When did you get so good at lacrosse Barry?" Eddie asked curiously.

With a secretive, yet smug smile, Barry replied, "Like I said. I went to Prep school."


	3. Fan Girls

It was a regular day in Central City. Well, regular for Barry Allen that is. Other than stopping a small mugging, there wasn't too much excitement, so he soon found himself at Jitters with Caitlyn and Cisco.

"I'm just saying! It's highly probable." Cisco said with great demand, as Barry gave him a sour look.

"No, Cisco. I don't think at Barry's super speed makes him able to speed blood to his head at a faster rate, therefor making him smarter. Even if it were possible for him to voluntarily rush blood to his head, it'll more likely kill him then make him smarter." Caitlyn said exasperatedly, as if she were explaining this for the hundredth time. Although with these two, Barry wouldn't be surprised.

"Guys, can we stop talking about me, as if I weren't already sitting here?" Barry said while taking a sip of his coffee. Well, to be honest at this point it was more Courvoisier than actual coffee. He obviously knew that he couldn't get drunk, but after spending so many years drinking this odd mixture on a daily basis, he grew too accustomed to the taste.

"Alright, fine. Then we'll talk about something else. How about we address the fact that a pretty blond has been staring at us for the past five minutes." Cisco said cheeringly.

"What are you talking about Cisco?" He asked trying to figure out what he was talking about.

"She's sitting to our 10 o'clock. See her now?" Cisco said, attempting to be discreet yet failing miserably.

"Yeah, I don't see anything." Caitlyn said.

"Oh geez, she walking over to us. Play it cool." Cisco said in a rush as he subtly tried to make himself look presentable.

Walking right up to their table, a gorgeous young blond said in a slightly wavering voice, "Excuse me? May I have a word with you?" 

"Well of course my lady." Cisco said in what he believed was a charming voice.

"My apologies, but I was talking to him." She said nervously pointing at Barry.

Looking a little startled, he got off his seat and proceeded to walk with the blond, "Of course."

After they reached a secluded corner, she turned to him, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to ask you this in front of everyone in case I totally looked like a crazy fan girl, but are you Sebastian Smythe?"

Now Barry was definitely confused. Instead of showing though, he put on a cocky smirk and said, "I would ask if we had met, but I certainly would have remembered a girl as beautiful as you."

Blushing, the girl responded, "We never did meet, no. My names Emma, we sort of competed against each other in sectionals once. You were really talented."

"Oh! Thank you, but usually my old competitors hate me with a passion, so why don't you?" He asked with true curiosity.

Emma shrugged in response, "Because you deserved to win. It's as easy as that."

"Well, I find it to be a shame that this is the first time I've had the pleasure of meeting you."

"As do I. I always found you to be quite attractive, let's not forget talented."

"I don't know about talent, but I must have some kind of superpower to get your attention. My question is, how long till this illusion of you actually liking me lasts?"

The girl just smirked, and handed him a piece of paper, "I don't know, but I am curious. Call me and we might be able to get the answers we're looking for." And with that, she walked away, and out of Jitters, turning back only once to shoot Barry a flirtatious smirk, which he easily reciprocated.

When he walked back to his friends, he was bombarded with questions.

"Dude! What did she want? Do you know her?" Cisco asked awed.

Barry shrugged as he took a sip of his 'coffee', "Just a fan."

Cisco looked him straight in the eye when he asked with an incredulous tone, "You have fans?"

Barry just hummed in agreement, being quite amused to the whole situation.

"And you want us to believe that?" He asked once more.

"Believe what you want. It's the truth. In fact, I'm pretty sure there's a cult." Barry said with a hint of a smile.

"A cult?" He asked.

"Yeah, fan girls can be quite dedicated. I'm still having a hard time deciding whether their utter dedication to me is charming or creepy."

"And why is she your fan? Did she mistake you for some kind of celebrity?" Caitlyn asked sporting a condescending smile.

"Not exactly. You see I'm famous myself. I'm a known singer, dancer, actor, and lacrosse player. Oh! And let's not forget that women tend to associate my name with womanizing sex-addict." Barry said with a grin spread across his face.

Caitlyn and Cisco just laughed in response, before switching the topic to the latest meta-human. They found the description of him to be so untrue, that it was quite hilarious. Barry just smirked to himself in amusement. If only they knew how true of a description it actually was.

Apparently a few people took videos of him during his performances in high school, and they posted it on the Internet. Soon enough, there was a pretty big fan base growing. Every once in a while he would get recognized, and beg him to sing a song for them. He almost got caught by his friends a few times in what he was what her referred to as, "Smythe Mode", but they never seemed to fully catch him in the act.

Realizing he wasn't listening, Caitlyn teases, "Thinking about your fan girls again?"

Barry smirked and said, " Something like that."


	4. The Ex: Part 1

It was another ordinary day at the station, however for some reason nowadays Barry feels like it's the calm days where something crazy happens. Today was not an exception. It was a slow day, so in order to pass some time, Barry started tinkering with a few chemicals. Bored out of his mind, he left his office and went downstairs where he intended to find Joe and annoy him till he gave him something to do.

Meanwhile in the Captains office, a gorgeous young brunette in her twenties was conversing with Central City's favorite and finest, Captain Singh.

"It's really good to have you here Nicki. How long are you planning on staying?" The Captain asked his young niece.

"Only for a few days unfortunately. I have work to do back in Metropolis, so I can't really stay long." Nicki told her favorite uncle with a disappointed tone.

"Certainly the Daily Planet can go just a few more days without their favorite reporter." Singh told her with a smile.

Nicki just chuckled as she replied sarcastically, "I don't know about that Uncle Dave, they can be quite incompetent without me."

"I don't know why you insist on getting a hotel. My house is your house, you're always welcome." Singh told her.

" Like I told you, I don't want to be a bother to you and your boyfriend. Plus, I heard hotels here in Central are some of the best." She told him.

"What are you planning to do while you're here in Central?" Singh asked her.

"Mostly spend time with you. But you're a busy guy, and I understand that, so I also plan on sight seeing. And lets not forget shopping."

"You know, one of my best detectives has a daughter who happens to be your age, and a journalist. I should introduce the two of you." Singh said.

"That's cool, sounds like we may get along." Nicki told him.

"Come, follow me." He said as he led her out of his office, and towards Detective Eddie Thawne's, where the beautiful Iris West was currently standing near.

"Iris, meet my niece Nicki Pierce, she's a reporter of the Daily Planet back in Metropolis. Nicki, this is Iris West, a journalist for Central City Picture News." Singh said introducing the two girls.

"It's really nice to meet you." Iris said politely giving her a handshake.

"Yeah, same here." Nicki said returning the shake.

"Well I have to get back to work, but I will see you for dinner tonight, right?" Singh asked Nicki.

"Yeah of course." Nicki told him, and with a small hug, Singh returned to his office.

"Well, I have a day off, so do you want to get some coffee?" Iris asked Nicki.

"Yeah, that sounds great." She replied.

As soon as the two girls left, Barry came down the stairs. Not finding Joe, Barry went to Eddie, "Hey Eddie, have you seen Joe?"

"No, he's on a solo case while I'm stuck doing paperwork. You just missed Iris however, she went out for coffee. Maybe you can catch up with her?"

Barry looked at his watch and bit back a scream as he realized he technically still had 2 more hours of work before he can clock out. "No, it's alright. I'm technically still on duty. Thanks though."

And with that, Barry trudged back up the stairs to his lab, completely unaware that someone on the other side of the Station window was staring at his retreating back. "Are you ok?" Iris asked Nicki as she realized that the latter was staring through the window.

With that, Nicki broke out of her stare and told Iris distractedly, "Yeah, I just thought I saw somebody that I knew."

A few hours later, Iris and Nicki found themselves bonding at Jitters. They had a lot of similarities, and they soon became fast friends.

"So let me get this straight, you live with your boyfriend, who also happens to be your dads partner?" Nicki asked.

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up." Iris told her.

"How did your dad take it?" Nicki asked.

"Well, when he first found out, he didn't talk to me for weeks. He would either leave notes for me on the fridge, or tell my best friend to relay the message back to me. He's pretty over protective."

"Wow. My Uncle's the same. Ever since my Dad died, he's been taking over. I mean, I still had my mom, but I guess Uncle Dave sort of felt as if it were his responsibility to take care of me after his only brother died. He is the definition of over bearing. I can't imagine telling him that I'm dating someone that he works with on a daily bases." Nicki admitted to Iris.

Jokingly, Iris replied, "Well then, I guess it's a good thing that you live in Metropolis."

Nicki laughed in response, and Iris quickly joined in. "You know, I read your blog. I find it really interesting. And by the way, The Flash is a much better name then the Streak." Nicki told her.

"Really? Thanks. The Flash is a hero, and if it weren't for him, everyone I hold dear would probably be dead by now, considering I naturally attach myself to people with dangerous occupations." Iris admitted.

"Everyone you love has dangerous occupations?" Nicki asked.

"My Dad is a detective, my boyfriend is his partner, and my best friend is their clumsy forensic scientist who got hit by lightning." Iris deadpanned.

"Wow, now that's commitment." Nicki told her, ending the conversation.

"Hey, I know a pretty good restaurant not too far from here. You must be pretty hungry by now, right?" Iris asked.

"A little." Nicki admitted.

"Come on, let's go." Iris said as they paid the bill.

When Barry finally got off of what seemed like a never-ending day of work, he was ready to kill for a drink. Then he realized he couldn't get drunk. It was times like these when Barry really hated his super metabolism. He found himself heading towards Jitters instead, craving the taste of a mocha latte with Courvoisier. When he was nearing the café, he saw two girls heading out of Jitters, and going towards the opposite direction. One of them he immediately recognized as Iris, the other girl looked too familiar. Distractedly, he entered the café and placed his order.

Noticing his slightly confused state, Sarah, the pretty waitress who tends to flirt with Barry, asked him, "Are you alright?"

Turning his attention back to her, he answered with a charming smirk, "Yeah, I just thought I saw somebody that I know."

_**Flashback: February; Senior Year**_

_Being dragged to a bar 45 minutes away from his dorm room was not part of Barry's (Or as he was called at the time, Sebastian's) plan for the night. He was ready to spend a quite night in his room, reading an interesting book on particle physics, when his roommate and friend Jeff forced him to go out for the night. The two of them ended up in some bar, and within the first five minutes, Jeff was already flirting with some girl, leaving Barry alone at a bar. He knew that if he wanted to, he could have some fun, but he was to busy sulking to actually do so._

"_You know, most guys come to a bar to have fun, not glare at their drink." A girl told Barry, as she slid onto the seat to his immediate right._

"_I'm a little too busy thinking of ways to kill my friend to have fun." Barry admitted to the beautiful brunette. _

"_Let me guess, friend drags you to a bar you don't even want to go to, and then ditches you for the first skirt he sees?" She asked._

_Barry smirked at her and applauded her, "Right on the first guess. How did you know?"_

"_I'm just good like that. I'm Nicki by the way."_

"_Sebastian Smythe. Nice to meet you."_

_**End of Flashback**_

The next day was quite a busy one for the scarlet speedster. His day job as a forensic scientist kept him busy as he did his work for hours on end.

Iris and Nicki spent another day together, and after a long day of shopping at almost every major store Central had to offer, they decided to stop by the Police Station to pay a visit. Walking inside, they headed straight towards the area where the Captain and Joe were speaking.

"Hey Uncle Dave!" Nicki greeted.

"Hey dad." Iris told her father, giving him a hug.

"I don't believe you've met my new friend. This is Nicki Pierce, she's in town for a few days to visit the Captain here." Iris told her dad.

"This is the niece you told me about, I take it?" Joe asked Singh.

"The one and only." He replied.

As they continued to converse, Barry finally finished writing up a particularly long and complicated police report. After finalizing it, he headed down stairs to personally hand it to Joe, who needed it to further one of his cases.

Approaching the group, Barry handed the file to Joe, " Here you go, finally done. I simplified some of the terms so that the judge doesn't get too confused."

"BAS!?" Nicki cried incredulously.

It was then that Barry finally noticed the girl he once referred to as his girlfriend, "Nicki?"

With that, Nicki leaped into his arms giving him a giant hug. Barry didn't hesitate to reciprocate as he spun her around, laughing in the process.

When they finally let go of each other, Barry asked, "What are doing here Nicki? I thought you lived in Metropolis?"

" I'm visiting my uncle. What about you?"

"I work here. I'm a forensic scientist." He told her.

"You're smart?" She asked him mockingly.

"Yeah, just about as smart as you let yourself think you are." He easily retorted.

"Barry? You know my niece?" Singh asked, once he finally got over his initial shock. Barry then noticed that they all looked quite surprised, Joe and Iris were having trouble keeping their jaws off the ground at this point.

Nicki raised her eyebrows at the fact that her uncle referred to her ex as Barry, but she chose not to comment on it.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." Barry replied.

"And how is it that the two of you know each other?" Singh asked.

"Easy, he's my ex-boyfriend." Nicki told her uncle, wrapping her arm around Barry's waist.

If Barry thought that they looked surprised before, he didn't know what to call their expressions after Nicki's statement. Singh looked as though he were going to have a heart attack at the fact that his precious niece dated the incompetent scientist. Joe looked shocked, though had a hint of pride. Iris was down right shocked, completely flabbergasted that her best friend had once dated her new friend, and she didn't even know about it.

"Well, I'd hate to cut this short, but Bas and I have a lot to catch up on, so bye." Nicki said, quickly dragging Barry out of the station, and towards Jitters.

"Sneaky as ever I see." Barry said with a smirk.

"So?" Nicki asked.

With that statement, Barry stopped walking, and leaned into Nicki. Whispering hotly into her ear, he said "Nothing, it's just that the whole bossy possesive thing that you do, super hot."


	5. The Ex: Part 2

Stepping into Jitters, Barry led his ex-girlfriend Nicki to his usual table, after ordering their coffee.

"Still putting Courvoisier into your coffee I see? How is your liver not ruined?" Nicki asked Barry with a smile grazing her face.

"I have a high metabolism." He told her, hiding his amused smile regarding his inside joke.

"So Bas, is there a reason that everyone here, including my dear uncle, calls you Barry?" She asked him with a curious tone.

Barry halted the small frown that was about to grace his face. He's known that this question was coming ever since he first saw Nicki at the police station. "Well as you know, before moving to Ohio I lived in Paris. My given is name is Bartholomew Allen, but everyone just calls me Barry. So anyways, when I moved to Paris for the first time I wanted to a clean slate, so I changed my name to Sebastian, and I guess it stuck with me throughout high school as well." He said giving the extremely short version of the short story. He wasn't really in the mood to talk to her about his mothers' death and the bullying he was forced to go through.

Thankfully Nicki seemed to accept his answer, "So what do you want me to call you now?"

With an extremely flirty smile, he replied," You can call me anything you want babe."

Nicki just laughed in response, "I think I'll stick to Sebastian then, unless someone else is with us. Something tells me the others don't really know about your alter ego. Plus I don't think I could ever get used to calling you Barry." 

"Fair enough. I'm kind of glad you have your own special little name for me."

"Don't be too flattered. Practically every bar in Ohio knows you as Sebastian. I'm pretty sure they have a picture of you somewhere saying 'Beware of Sebastian, a teenage alcoholic and sex-addict that will drink all of your liquor and steal all of your women'."

Barry gasped and put a hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt, "Now that's just cruel. I'm not THAT bad."

"No. You're worse." She told him jokingly.

Barry smiled; she always was a smart girl. "I really have missed you Nicki. We haven't hung out since high school."

"I missed you too Bas. It really is good to see you again." She told him with a charming smile.

"So, what is the plan for today? Anything you want to do?" He asked her.

"Not exactly. I am however interested in joining you for whatever it is that you have planned. So tell me, what does Sebastian Smythe do for fun?" She asked him, leaning towards him slightly.

With a flirtatious smirk, Barry leaned across the table to get closer to her and replied in a whisper, "Oh, I would be glad to show you my idea of fun."

At that moment they were interrupted by a rude cough, "I have your drinks." The waiter said placing said drinks on the table before leaving.

Groaning, Barry leaned back into his seat, the spell that he cast on the gorgeous brunette breaking. After mumbling a few incoherent words of distaste obviously directed towards the rude waiter, he took a sip out of his drink. Nicki just laughed as she stood up and took Barry's hand.

"Come on Smythe! You're going to show me the sights that Central City has to offer." She said dragging Barry towards the exit, coffee in hand.

Barry ended up taking her to a park, where they walked around an spoke for hours catching up on everything.

"You got hit by lightning?!" Nicki screeched.

Barry just shrugged in response, "Yeah, it was an interesting experience to say they very least."

"You're insane Bas, just insane." Nicki said dramatically.

"So I have been told. New Directions in particular were very firm in reminding me."

"Can you blame them? No offense, but you really were a terrible person to them."

"I was a terrible person to everyone at that time." He said shrugging.

"No, you changed. Plus they all forgave you, and didn't you become friends with them afterwards?"

Barry smiled remembering his friends in New Directions, "Yeah, Blaine and I have gotten close. Kurt and I became friends ever since he found out I wasn't really trying to steal Blaine away from him. Hell, even Satan and I became best friends once we realized that the similarities between us were too hard to ignore."

"Oh my god, do you remember that time Kurt found out you had a girlfriend!" Nicki said while laughing.

Barry was laughing so hard, that tears were streaming down his face, "Of course! I have never seen one persons skin changing into that many colors in such a small amount of time!"

As night was quickly approaching, Barry decided to take Nicki to a bar where he invited his friends to join. Upon arriving, they found that Iris, Eddie, Caitlyn, and Cisco were already there.

"Hey guys, Caitlyn and Cisco, this is my friend Nicki, Nicki meet my good friends Caitlyn and Cisco. And you already know Eddie and Iris." Barry said introducing them.

Nicki gave a smile to each of them as she responded, "Of course, it's nice to meet you guys, and good to see two again."

Caitlyn, smiling politely asked, "So how do the two of you know each other?"

"We used to date." Barry replied off handedly. At that comment, Cisco's mouth practically dropped as he stared at them incredulously.

"You. Barry Allen. 6 foot 2. Nerdy scientist. You dated this beautiful goddess?!" Cisco practically screamed.

Barry just chuckled in amusement, "Yeah, pretty much."

"YES! There is a chance for us nerds!" Cisco said.

Chuckling, Barry leaned towards Nicki and whispered into her ear, "If this is how he reacts to meeting you, I wonder how it would be when he meets Santana. After all, they're both Latin."

Nicki giggled in response and replied, "Video tape it."

Caitlyn, ignoring Cisco's longing looks towards Nicki asked, "So what do you do?"

"I'm a reporter for the Daily Planet." She replied.

"And she's really good. I just got a chance to read some of you work." Iris said.

"Thanks, I still believe your blog is the best though." Nicki said.

"Are you kidding? That fashion article you wrote was genius!" Iris said. That somehow started a conversation between all three girls regarding the latest fashion lines.

"Oh man. That girl is seriously gorgeous. How on earth did you manage to land her Allen?" Eddie asked.

_**Flashback**_

_Taking a sip out of his drink he told the pretty girl sitting at the bar next to him, "Go out with me."  
_

_Nicki giggled and replied, "Now why would I do that? You don't exactly look like the kind of guy that would have trouble scoring a date. In fact. You don't even look like the kind of guy who dates in the first place."_

_Barry just smirked and answered, "You're right on both accounts. I don't date. I don't do relationships; they're messy, uncoordinated, and problematic. Yet here I am, asking you for a date."_

"_Was that supposed to convince me to date you? You just practically told me that you're a man whore." She said._

"_Hey, at least I'm honest. It's not like I ever denied my certain promiscuity. I am however saying that you are the first girl I even considered asking out on a proper date." He told her with a smile._

_She smirked at him and said, "One date. And only because I want to see what it's like to date a slut."_

_With a smirk he replied, "I'll take what I can get."_

_**End of Flashback**_

"What can I say Eddie, I have major skills." He told his friend with a cocky smirk.

"Hey, we should all play a game of darts." Caitlyn suggested.

"Sounds like fun." Iris agreed, while everyone other then Nicki nodded.

"I'm sorry, no way." Nicki said defiantly.

"Why not?" Eddie asked.

"Because it isn't fun playing with Seb- uh, Barry. He totally ruins the game for everyone. There's no point in playing when you know who's going to win." She said.

"Oh come on Nicki, now don't be a sore loser." Barry said with his ever-present smirk.

"Barry is good at darts?" Cisco asked somewhat surprised.

"I'm ok." Said Barry while Nicki said at the same time, "He's the best."

"Now this I have to see." Iris said.

They decided the game should be played in singles. It didn't take long for everyone to realize just how right Nicki was about Barry's skills. He made a bull's-eye every time, and beat everyone by a landslide.

"See what I mean! It's not even fair!" Exclaimed Nicki after Barry made his seventh bull's-eye in a row.

Soon the game ended, and everyone parted ways for the night. The next morning found Barry, Captain Singh, Eddie, and Iris at the train station saying goodbye to Nicki.

"Call as soon as you get on the train. The call when you arrive. Oh, and call when you get home as well." Captain Singh ranted to his favorite niece.

Nicki just laughed and gave her uncle a hug. "I promise uncle. Lots of calling. I'll miss you."

She hugged Iris goodbye, and promised to keep in touch. Then she said goodbye to Eddie, and told him that he better take a good care of her new friend.

Lastly, see said her goodbyes to Barry. He grabbed her in a tight hug, lifting her off the floor, where she then proceeded to wrap her lags around his waist. When Barry felt the cold tears from her eyes on his neck, he whispered into her ear, "You know, I've just realized I haven't given you a tour of my bedroom yet. What a shame. Maybe next time."

That instantly made her feel better as she giggled. Knowing Barry as well as she did, she translated his sentence to, "I'll miss you. Come back soon so we can hang out."

"I'll miss you too Bas." She told him before he put her down. He used his thumb to wipe away her tears as she smiled at him sweetly.

She grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her connecting their lips, where she gave him a long lingering kiss, which he easily and quickly responded to, much to the horror of the dear Captain.

Breaking the kiss, Nicki said softly with a small smile, "Bye Bas."


	6. Undercover

It was just another regular workday, when Barry found himself in the middle of a case debriefing. Usually Barry avoided debriefings like the plague, since not only were they boring, but he wasn't a detective, so it was fairly useless. Today however, he was cornered by Captain Singh himself who practically forced Barry to come into his office for the meeting. It was only 20 minutes into the debriefing and Barry was already bored out of his mind. There was absolutely no use for a CSI like him to be here.

"The suspects name is Derek Larkin." Captain Singh announced to the room full of detectives, while showing said suspects picture in the projection screen behind him. "He is suspected of multiple accounts of fraud and grand theft, however he was never charged despite the numerous amounts of evidence pointing towards him. Recently however, he stole a priceless bracelet that dates back to the Greek Empire from Central City Museum. We need that bracelet back in it's vault, and Larkin in handcuffs."

Switching the projection screen to a picture of a pretty red haired girl, Captain Singh continued to say, "This is Teresa Larkin, Derek's younger sister, age 24. Our lead suggests that as the only living family member, she plays a big role as Derek's trusted confidant. It is also believed that she is the one to be keeping the bracelet in safekeeping. None of this can be proven however, so I am sending in Detective Thawne undercover to learn all he can about Ms. Teresa Larkin, and her elder brother. Any questions?"

Joe spoke up, "Why put my partner undercover? No offense to him, but he is still the least experienced here, especially in undercover work." Eddie seemed to agree with Joe since he nodded in agreement.

"It's because Eddie is the youngest detective here. We need him to, eh, forge a relationship, of sorts, with Ms. Teresa. That way he could search her apartment without being suspected." The Captain said.

Eddie visibly paled at the thought of having to forge a "relationship" with a thief, especially when he has Iris. "Um, sir, I don't know if I'm comfortable with this situation."

Joe nodded in agreement, "I don't think it's the best idea either Captain."

Singh just gave them a look, and said in a defiant tone, "I don't care what you think is comfortable. The only way to search the girl's apartment at this point without a warrant is if you were invited in. And frankly, Detective Pretty Boy here is the only one capable of being invited into her home. Now I don't want any more arguments. You are all dismissed."

_Well isn't this a terrible idea, _thought Barry to himself as he saw Eddie leave the room to call Iris and break the news to her. While Barry knew that Eddie is what some girls may refer to as attractive, he knew there was no way that he could effectively seduce a girl like Teresa, especially considering the fact that he was already in love with another girl. Thankfully Barry was able to look through Teresa's case file before the meeting, though according to her record of previous boyfriends, Eddie is most definitely NOT her type.

Eddie was more of the pretty, yet rugged, nice boy type. According to her file, Teresa was much more interested in leather jacket wearing, smug, bad boys. Eddie was too nice to be her type; he would never get passed her front door. Fortunately, Barry just happened to know the perfect guy for her.

Barry went up the stairs to his lab, where he knew he had a copy of Teresa's case file. Putting on a scheming smile to his face, he began plotting.

"Please don't tell me you plan on taking this case on." Joe said from the doorway to Barry's lab, where he easily saw Barry look through the case file. "The siblings may be great thieves, but they aren't exactly meta-humans. I think The Flash can sit out this one."

"You're right, this isn't a case for The Flash. But we both know that this isn't Eddie's case either. If Teresa doesn't catch and kill him, since frankly the man is incapable of successfully lying, then Iris will kill him. If Eddie gets sent in, then the whole operation can be ruined, and we may never catch the siblings, or return the bracelet."

Joe just quirked an eyebrow and asked, "If the scarlet speedster won't help out in this case, then what do you plan on doing about it?"

Barry just let out a sigh, "Let's just say that Eddie is somehow able to convince her to let him into her home, he will not be able to find the bracelet fast enough without being caught." 

Joe looked at his foster son incredulously, "So what? You're going to take his place undercover?"

"Look Joe, this is just one of those times where you're going to have to trust me. I know what I'm doing." Barry told him confidently.

"What about Eddie?" Joe asked.

"I don't know, but I'm making my move tonight. I would appreciate having the two of you as backup."

"Okay. I'm trusting you on this Barry, for some reason."

"That's all I ask."

Once Joe leaves, Barry runs over to Star Labs, where he finds Cisco and Caitlyn and asks for their help on the case.

"Yeah, of course we can help! But how sure are you about the plan?" Caitlyn asks Barry.

"I'm sure about it, it has to work. According to her messages with some friends, she's planning on going to a bar tonight on Grant Street, that's where I'll make my move." Barry tells them.

"Wait, how do you know what her plans for today are?" Cisco asks.

Slightly shrugging, Barry replied, "I may have called Felicity earlier to ask for help. She hacked her phone."

"You dog!" Cisco exclaimed punching Barry in the shoulder.

Barry just chuckled before asking, "Do you guys have any extra small comms? I'm going to need help finding evidence."

"Who do you think you're talking to? Of course we do!" Cisco cried.

"What I don't understand is why you don't just run in there and find it as the Flash?" Caitlyn asked.

"This isn't the Flash's usual type of case, it'll seem too suspicious. And in order to find the bracelet legally, I have to be invited into her home. After that, anything I find in plain sight can be counted as evidence." Barry said.

"Do you really think she would hide the bracelet in plain sight?" Cisco asked.

"I would, if it were me." Caitlyn replied. "After all, people would be so busy looking for a safe that they wouldn't see what's directly in front of them."

"Exactly." Barry agreed.

Cisco chuckled as he asked, "Now here comes the real question. What makes you think you have a better chance at seducing the hottie than Detective Pretty Boy?"

Barry just smiled smugly as he replied, "You have met Nicki, haven't you?"

After further updating his two friends on the specifics of the case, Barry sped home to change. He put on a pair of dark blue jeans, a navy blue V-neck, and a leather jacket. Looking at himself in the mirror, he watched as his shy smile became the cocky smirk he was all too accustomed to. Gone was nerdy Barry Allen, in his place stood smug Sebastian Smythe.

Putting the comm that Cisco gave him earlier, he asked, "Can you guys here me?"

"Loud and clear Barry." He heard Caitlyn say through the comm.

"Perfect." Said Barry before speeding off towards the bar where Teresa Larkin was currently occupying.

A block away from said bar, in front of Teresa's apartment building, he noticed Joe and Eddie sitting in an inconspicuous car.

Approaching the bar, Barry slowed down and casually walked through the doors. The atmosphere was instantly familiar to Barry as he walked in, having been to far too many bars in his short lifetime.

Spotting a familiar looking redhead near the bar, Barry casually made his way over, taking the seat directly to her left.

Speaking to the bartender, Barry said, "A glass of straight Courvoisier please."

He felt a pair of blue eyes staring at him before she spoke, "You have good taste. A French-man I presume?"

Barry wearing his signature smirk turned to Teresa, "It takes one to know one."

Teresa smiled coyly, "I spent a semester of college in Nice. You could say I picked up a thing or two. What about you?"

"My mother's French. I spent a majority of my high school career in Paris." He told her honestly.

"So what was your favorite thing to do in Paris, the city of love?" She asked him flirtatiously.

With an equally flirtatious smirk, Barry responded, "Exactly what the name of the city suggests."

"Oh really, how so?" She asked.

With what many females consider to be a drop dead sexy smile, Barry replied, "Well it's no fun describing it. I will however be more then happy to demonstrate it for you."

"Teresa Larkin." She told him with her hand outstretched.

"Sebastian Smythe." He responded with a smirk, returning the handshake.

"Oh come on! How is this even possible?!" Barry heard Cisco scream in his earpiece.

Barry hid his small laugh at Cisco by taking a gulp out of the drink the bartender had just brought over.

"So Sebastian, what do you do for a living?" Teresa asked curiously.

"I'm an actor." He said.

"Really? An actor? That's the best you could come up with?" He once again heard Cisco say as he tried hard to ignore him.

"Have I seen you in anything?" Teresa asked.

"Nothing too big yet. I'm still trying to get myself out there, it's not exactly the easiest business." He told her. At this point, Barry was sending silent a thank you to his friend Cooper Anderson, who he was able to learn a great deal about the acting business from.

"Well you could always take your clothes off in front of a camera, I'm sure everyone would love to see that." She told him.

"Oh really? And are you one of those people?" He asked her smugly, sending her a perfect wink.

"I don't know, why don't you come with me and find out." She told him as she stood up, leading him out of the bar and towards her apartment. He could hear Cisco freaking out in the background, but he went mostly unnoticed since Barry was a little too busy whispering a few suggestive words into Teresa's ear. Ever since Barry was 16 in Paris, he has had absolutely no trouble convincing girls to go home with him. All he had to do was smirk and wink, and the girl was his.

As they passed by the car that Joe and Eddie were currently sitting in, Barry couldn't help but smirk at them while wrapping his arm securely around Teresa's waist, leaning down to whisper in her ear, "You're really bossy. I hope that this specific trait doesn't just end here."

Stopping them right in front of Joe's car, Teresa answered, "Oh please, I'm always bossy." She then grabbed Barry's shirt and dragged him down into a kiss.

Hiding his amused chuckle, Barry easily reciprocated the kiss, putting his arms around her waist and dragging her closer. After about 5 minutes of continuously making out, Barry broke the kiss and said, "Perhaps we should continue this upstairs?"

"I agree, come on, you have to show me the French way of having fun." She said pulling him towards her apartment.

Barry had to hide his laugh as he realized that not only have Cisco and Caitlyn just over heard the whole thing, but Joe and Eddie had to witness it.

Unlocking her door, Barry followed her inside the simple apartment. "I'm going to go freshen up, feel free to look around." She told him coyly before heading towards what Barry assumed was the restroom. And look around he did. Using his super speed, he searched the whole apartment for the bracelet.

Realizing he couldn't find it, he said in a whisper directed towards his friends, "Guys, what am I looking for? I can't find it!"

"Barry, remember what I said earlier. Plain sight." He heard Caitlyn say.

Right, plain sight. Sounds easy enough in theory. It took him another 3 seconds to find the silver bracelet tucked in a bowl on the coffee table between a few silver ornaments.

"Found it." He said before speeding out of the apartment, bracelet in hand.

Tapping Joe's car window, effectively startling both Joe and Eddie, Joe rolled down his car window, and Barry gave him the bracelet. "She's all yours officers. My work is done here." He said before walking off. He hid on the opposite side of the street as he watched Joe and Eddie escort Teresa out of her apartment in handcuffs.

Returning to Star Labs, he was immediately cornered by Cisco. "DUDE! What the actual hell?!"

"Hello to you too." Barry said sarcastically.

"This is not the time for jokes man! You just made out with a hot criminal! I was listening the whole time and I still couldn't figure out how you managed to do it!" Cisco said in all enthusiastic seriousness.

Barry just shrugged and smirked in response, "What can I say? I'm French."


	7. Intellegence

Other then the seemingly small fact that they were technically the same person, Sebastian Smythe and Barry Allen were nothing alike. Sebastian was mean, cruel, selfish, and witty. Barry was nice, kind, generous, and quirky. They were complete opposites in everyway but one: Intelligence.

It was no secret that Sebastian Smythe had quite the extensive vocabulary. After all, it took an array of knowledge concerning the English language, coupled with a large imagination, to come up with the insults that seem to come to him as easily as breathing. He was cunning and devious, always thinking one step ahead of everyone else. He had a broad knowledge of law, and he used this to his certain advantage. There was no denying that he was certainly a genius.

Barry Allen was always considered a nerd. He always had a deep interest in science, and his naturally curious mind left him unable to sleep at night until he was able to fully understand a certain concept. His idea of a fun Friday night included conducting complicated experiments in his garage. From a young age he understood concepts that most adults had no hope of understanding. Math and science came easily to him, he understood quantum physics the same way most people understood football. There was no denying that he was certainly a genius.

Even though they both had a high intelligence, it was in different ways. After all, Sebastian Smythe usually spent his weekends partying instead of studying, and Barry Allen was never really known to use his advanced fluency in English to permanently lower another's self worth. When people first find out about Barry's separate alter ego, they become quite flabbergasted. No one could believe that cocky Sebastian Smythe was in all actuality a nice, genuine guy. But at the end of the day they came to understand. Sebastian Smythe was always a part of Barry's personality, the part that was witty and suave, the part that he never showed the world, until Paris that is.

There were many times Barry had to suppress going into "Smythe Mode", as he referred to it. Although usually he was quite successful, there were times where he couldn't exactly help it.

_**LINE BREAK**_

It was a fairly average day in Central City, the weather was nice, and crime was low. This particular morning, Barry found himself in Jitters with Iris.

"So Iris, how's your blog going?" Barry asked his friend, knowing that she was going to bring it up at some point.

"It's actually going great! It's getting more views with each life the Flash saves!" Iris said.

Barry tuned out the rest of her rant about the Flash, he still felt awkward that Iris kind of tends to fan girl about him; he thought he left all the crazy fans back in Ohio. Instead his mind was miles away, in Westerville Ohio to be exact. It's been a while since he had seen any of his old high school friends. He still spoke to them often, in fact just the previous night he stayed up on the phone with Blaine for hours. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Blaine and Kurt were married with kids, and that he was technically an uncle. It felt like just yesterday when Barry, or technically Sebastian, was the big bad leader of the warblers, number one public enemy of New Directions, rival of Santana Lopez, and a complete asshole who seemed to be hell bent on stealing Blaine from Kurt. If a person would to have told anyone a few years ago that Barry would soon become great friends with the majority of New Directions, and then reveal that he was never really gay and just liked to mess with people, everyone would have sent said person to a mental institution. I mean, no one could have an imagination that big. Yet, it happened anyways.

Suddenly he was brought out of his thoughts as he felt Iris yank his arm.

"Oh my god. That's Jason Kyles." She said in a loud whisper.

All of a sudden, Barry disregarded all previous thoughts about Dalton as he gave his full attention to Iris.

Looking at the guy that Iris gestured towards, he said, "Jason Kyles? You mean THE Jason Kyles. Prom date Jason Kyles? Ex-boyfriend, 'he's the love of my life' Jason Kyles? Broke up with you at the end of senior year because he couldn't handle long distance, Jason Kyles? Moved to Boston to attend Harvard, Jason Kyles? Jason Kyles, the biggest asshole in the world?"

Iris gave him a look as she responded, "How many other Jason Kyles do you know! Yes, that Jason Kyles!"

Barry shrugged his shoulders, "Huh, just thought he would be more attractive is all."

Iris glared at him as she responded bitterly, " Well maybe if you didn't attend a high school 5 hours away, you would know what he looked like."

Barry put up his hands in defeat, "Sorry. Touchy subject. But seriously, what is this guy doing back here in Central City?"

"No clue." Iris responded quietly as she stared at the guy she once believed herself to be in love with.

"Huh" was all Barry said as they continued to watch Jason as he was ordering his coffee.

Receiving his beverage, Jason turned around to look for a table, when he noticed Barry and Iris. A look of recognition spread across his face as he approached their table.

"Iris West?" He asked with a smile on his face.

Iris gave him a smile as she said, "Jason, hi! It's been a while."

"Definitely. It seems like forever ago."

"Would you like to sit with us?" She asked gesturing to the seat next to hers.

"Um, yeah. Thanks Iris." He said taking a seat.

Iris slightly blushed as she replied, "Yeah, its no problem. Oh! This is Barry, my best friend."

Shaking hands with Barry, Jason said, "It's nice to finally meet you Barry. It's a shame we never got the chance to meet back in high school."

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too." Barry said cautiously. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this guy, one that wouldn't go away.

As soon as Jason was done addressing him, he turned all of his attention to Iris, ignoring Barry completely. Every time Barry would try to make a comment, Jason brushed it off and focused on Iris instead. Barry soon stopped trying, seeing as Iris didn't notice any of it, and he drank his coffee (Courvoisier) in silence. Pretty soon, Iris's phone rang.

Checking the caller ID, she stood up and said, "It's work. I better take this." As she walked away, Jason quickly turned to Barry.

"Stay away from her kid. She was mine once, and she'll be mine again." Jason told him with a frown on his face.

Barry felt his Sebastian Smythe mask come on as he plastered a smirk on his face and replied, "Hate to break it to you Ken Doll, but Iris already has a boyfriend, and even if she didn't have one, she doesn't make the same mistake twice."

"The only mistake Iris made was becoming friends with you."

"Aww, is that the best you can do? You have to try harder then that if you want to rile me up." Barry said, smirk still perfectly in place.

"You give the world a bad name as long as Iris keeps hanging out with you, baby face." He tells Barry, anger radiating off of him.

"And you give the world a cutting edge fashion that's usually only ever seen on Puerto Rican pride floats. Now, are we done here? Or do you still have some dignity left to throw away with those poor excuse of insults?"

"She will never love you, you know. She could never love someone like you."

Barry doesn't even miss a beat as he quickly replies, "Listen here gay face, if I want something, I get it, no matter what. And right now, all I want is your demise."

"You don't deserve her." Jason says in a final attempt to win this insult match.

"Maybe not. But you definitely deserve this." Barry says giving him an evil smirk as Iris makes her way back to the table.

"Sorry about that guys. So, what did I miss?" Iris asks, taking her previous seat.

Barry puts on an innocent smile, "Oh, Jason was just telling me about his fiancé Tyler back in Boston. They're thinking about having a June wedding, but I'm more a fan of an autumn wedding."

Iris looks surprised as she replies, "Oh! I wasn't aware that you were getting married! Or that you were gay… not that it matters of course. I'm happy for you."

Jason tried to hide his anger at Barry, but knowing that there was no way out of this situation, he said, "Yeah. Trust me, I didn't see it coming either. Anyway, I better get going. It was great seeing you again Iris."

He picked up his coffee, and left the coffee shop, although not before giving Barry a glare. Barry just chuckled and waved goodbye sarcastically.

"Well that was weird. I definitely didn't see that coming." Iris said.

Barry chuckled once again and replied, " Yeah, but people change."


	8. Big Bro

It was an average day in Central City; everything was normal, except for one thing. An international celebrity was currently sitting in Jitters alone, enjoying a cup of coffee. Cooper Anderson, a now very famous actor who has been in multiple hit movies, was in Central City to shoot a part of his latest movie.

Entering the coffee shop, Jitters regular and favorite customer Barry Allen made his way towards the cashier, unintentionally passing by Cooper without noticing.

"Well isn't that rude. We've been friends for 9 years, yet I don't even get a hello?" Cooper called out to Barry.

Turning around, Barry's eyes landed on his old friend, and as a smirk graced his face he replied, "We're friends? That's news to me."

Getting out of his seat, Cooper said, "Hey Bas. Long time no see."

With that, Barry ran towards his good friend and gave him a bone-crushing hug, which Cooper eagerly returned.

Letting him go, Barry asked with a smile on his face, "What are you doing here Coop?"

"Remember that new movie I told you about last week? Well, part of it needs to be shot here in Central. And since I wanted to find and surprise you, I thought I would try a coffee shop, since you always tend to live in one no matter what city you're in."

Barry laughed in response to his very accurate statement.

_**Flashback: Paris; 9 Years Ago**_

_It was the summer of dreams, the summer of changes. Barry had just moved to Paris and created the alter ego Sebastian, and he spent all of his time enjoying developing his new personality. He wanted to have Sebastian perfected by the time he moved to Ohio to attend Dalton. Entering his regular coffee shop, La Merveille, he got in line to order his coffee._

_The man ahead of him was currently trying to order his coffee in English; to the non-English speaking waitress who looked beyond confused. Chuckling slightly, Barry put on a smirk and told the waitress in French charmingly, "Please don't mind my friend here. He will like a caramel latte with a shot of espresso."_

_Sighing gratefully, the waitress left to make the mans coffee as said man turned to look at Barry. "Thanks man. If it weren't for you, I may have never gotten my coffee."_

_Barry smirked and replied, "Word of advice, if you're going to vacation in France, it might help to at least know a few words in French."_

_The man looked surprised at Barry's accent, "You're American?"_

"_Last I checked. But my mother is French." Barry told him._

"_Makes sense. And in my defense, I didn't even know I was coming to France. I was supposed to be shooting my commercial in New York when the directors told me last minute that they decided to shoot it in Paris instead. Apparently, it's more unique."_

"_Ah, I thought I recognized you from somewhere. Well if you want, I can show you around. After all, what kind of person would I be if I left a poor attractive actor to his own misguided devices in an unknown city?"_

"_I appreciate it. Cooper Anderson." Cooper told him extending his hand._

_Barry shook his hand as he said, "Sebastian Smythe. Pleasure."_

_**End of Flashback**_

"Well, it's great to see you Coop. I've missed you bro." Barry tells him with a genuine smile.

"Not to go all teenage girl on you, but I've missed you too little bro."

"Are you going soft on me Anderson?" Barry asked him mockingly.

"Shut up Frenchy." Cooper told him jokingly.

They both laughed at the very bad nickname Cooper had given him shortly after they had first met. They had become very fast friends, and they had always stayed in contact through the years. They were both very similar in many ways, and joked many times about being long lost brothers, considering how close they were.

"So tell me Bas, what are your plans for the day?" Cooper asked him.

"Well I just got off work. So nothing yet." Barry said.

"Great! Then go order your coffee, and have a seat with me. We, my friend, need to catch up. After all, I need to see how my favorite wingman is doing."

Barry laughed at that reference. Back in Paris, it didn't take the two long to realize that since both of them were charming womanizers, they were amazing wingmen. Most days they spent their nights helping each other win the hearts of unsuspecting beautiful girls.

"Whatever you say buddy." Barry told him as he went to order his coffee.

The next 5 hours were spent with the two of them talking, and catching up. They spoke about everything, from their respective jobs, to Blaine, to their personal lives. As night began to fall, Cooper looked at his watch and told Barry reluctantly, "Well, it's getting late. I better head out, since I have an early day of filming tomorrow."

"Sure thing bro. Hit me up when you're done, ok?" Barry told him.

"Always." And with that final statement, Cooper departed.

**Line break**

The next morning Barry found himself at work in the police station, when Cooper walked in.

Walking up to a random detective, who was currently conversing with Eddie, Cooper asked, "Hi, can you help me with something?"

Instantly recognizing him, the detective quickly answered, "Of course, what do you need?"

"I'm looking for my little brother. I know that he works here."

"What's your brothers name?"

"Barry Allen? Do you know him?" Cooper inquired.

Looking confused, Eddie told him, "Allen doesn't have a brother."

At the top of the stairs leading to his lab, Barry noticed Cooper standing there, and called out, "Coop?"

"Hey bro!" Cooper yelled across the station. Going towards him, Barry grabbed his friend in a hug.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had to shoot your scene this morning." Barry asked.

"Yeah, but I just finished and thought I would visit my favorite alcoholic."

"See, that would be more funny if I were actually an alcoholic."

"Do you want me to remind you of your regular coffee order?"

"Touché."

At this point, Eddie looked beyond confused, "Barry, do you want to explain to me what the heck is going on?"

Remembering that they had an audience, Barry told him, "Oh, right! Eddie, this is friend Cooper Anderson. We met back when I lived in Paris."

"You lived in Paris?" He asked.

"Didn't I just say that?" Barry asked.

Cooper chuckled at his friends antics and said, "Well I better let you get back to work Bas. I'm needed back on set anyways. I just wanted to check in on you."

"Sure thing Coop." Barry said as Cooper left the station.

Barry retreated back to his lab, leaving Eddie downstairs. "What the hell just happened?" He exclaimed.

**Line Break**

That afternoon, Eddie and Iris had coffee at Jitters, where they coincidently bumped into Cisco and Caitlyn, who joined them.

"Hey, did you guys know that Barry is apparently best friends with a celebrity?" Eddie asked.

Iris chuckled and said, "Yeah honey, we all met Oliver."

"I don't mean Oliver." Eddie said. And just as everyone else was going to question him, Barry walked through the door with Cooper, and they went to go order their coffee.

Recognizing Cooper, Caitlyn asked in a hushed yet surprised tone "Is that Cooper Anderson? With Barry?"

"No way." Exclaimed Iris.

"The famous actor?" Cisco asked.

Eddie nodded, "I'm taking that as a no, you didn't know about that friendship."

"How did they even meet? And why didn't I know about this?" Iris asked.

"Paris, apparently." Eddie replied.

"Typical." Iris mumbled.

"Barry's been to Paris?" Caitlyn asked.

"Yeah, he lived there for a few months with his uncle before his junior year." Iris replied.

"Why didn't I know about this?" Cisco all but yelled.

"Must not have come up. Barry doesn't really talk about his high school days, especially after moving to Paris." Iris replied.

Receiving their coffee, Barry led Cooper towards his friends.

"Hey guys, this is my old friend Cooper Anderson. Coop, these are my friends, Iris, Caitlyn, Cisco, and you've already met Eddie." Barry said, pointing out each one of his friends.

"It's nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about you guys." Cooper said.

"Yet we've heard absolutely nothing about you." Cisco mumbled.

Caitlyn then proceeded to elbow Cisco in the stomach as Cooper just laughed, "It's alright. Barry isn't the kind of guy to flaunt the fact that he's a close friend to a celebrity."

"First Oliver Queen, now Cooper Anderson? Anymore celebrities that you are hiding from me?" Iris asked jokingly.

"No that's about it." Barry replied with a laugh as he and Cooper took a seat at the table.

"So you guys met in Paris?" Caitlyn asked politely.

"Yeah, Barry offered to show me around, considering that I didn't speak a word of French. We met again though in Ohio." Cooper answered.

"Ohio?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, I went to school there." Barry answered.

_**Flashback: Junior Year**_

_Entering Lima Bean, Blaine and Kurt showed the elder Anderson brother around their quaint coffee shop. _

"_I know it's not exactly Paris, but we love it here." Blaine told Cooper._

"_Yeah, we're regulars here." Kurt said, backing up his boyfriend. He is now more used to his boyfriends brother, since it is now the second time that Cooper has visited. Thankfully, he didn't fan boy this time. _

_Cooper smiled at his baby brother, "It's nice."_

_Blaine smiled, and then said, "Lets find a place to sit."_

_While looking for a table, Cooper saw a familiar pair of green eyes that were currently glued to his advanced chemistry textbook. _

"_Hey guys, hold up. I think I see an old friend of mine." Cooper said, making his way towards his French friend._

"_Is he talking about that Meerkat?" Kurt asked, surprised._

"_He must be mistaken." Blaine said incredulously. Even though they both had doubts, they went close enough to listen._

_Standing directly next to Barry, who didn't even notice his friends presence, Cooper said, "I don't know why you're studying this in the first place Frenchy, it's not like you need to study, we all know that you're a nerd."_

_Turning around to look at the eldest Anderson brother, Barry retorted, "At least I have a few brain cells to spare." _

_Cooper responded, "What are the odds that I would find you in a coffee shop? I think you have a serious addiction." _

"_Oh please, as if you can survive a day without at least 3 cups of coffee."_

"_At least I don't put Courvoisier in my coffee."_

"_At least I don't disguise my alcohol in public by putting it in a coffee cup."_

"_Touché." Cooper said._

_Blaine and Kurt approached the two, "Sebastian, you know my older brother?" Blain asked._

"_Older brother? I should have known. Cooper baby, you didn't tell me you had a younger brother. Looks like great genes and aesthetics run in the family." Barry told Cooper with a smirk and wink. _

_Catching on to Barry's plan, "Sorry babe. I guess I was too busy doing other things to tell you about my family."_

"_What the hell is going on?!" Kurt cried._

_Cooper and Barry just laughed at the two, before Cooper responded, "We're just joking guys. I'm straight, remember?"_

_Looking relieved, Blaine asked, "Then how do the two of you know each other?" _

_Barry answered, "We met back in a coffee shop in Paris. I helped him order his drink, since he doesn't know a word in French. I then showed him around, since I couldn't leave an attractive guy like Cooper fend for himself in the big bad city." _

"_You might want to stop the innuendos Bas, you're scaring my brother." Cooper told him, amused. _

_Smirking, Barry answered " Well, isn't that the point?"_

"_So the two of you are friends?" Blaine asked, still not quite believing what he was witnessing. _

"_Yeah, we are." Cooper answered._

_Looking at his watch, Barry told them with a smirk, "Listen, I got Lacrosse practice, and as much as I would love to miss it, I'm the captain so that won't be possible. Cooper, Blaine has my number. Text me so we can catch up. Bye boys."_

"_Will do Frenchy, will do." Cooper said, as Barry left the shop._

"_Why are you friends with him? He's the definition of a cheesy cartoon villain!" Kurt told Cooper._

"_Oh, he's not that bad." Cooper said._

"_No, he's worst." Kurt said persistently. _

"_Kurt's right Cooper, Sebastian isn't the kind of guy you want to be around." Blaine said._

_Cooper just looked at the two with a small smile, "And haven't you guys ever thought, that maybe he's a good guy, and you just didn't know him well enough?" And with that Cooper walked away to order his drink._

_**End of Flashback**_

"So Cooper, do you know any hot models you can introduce me to?" Cisco asked.

Cooper laughed and responded, "Some. But I actually know someone perfect for you. A retired cheerleader actually, and she's Latina as well."

Catching on to whom Cooper was referring to, Barry growled warningly, "Don't you even think about it."

Cooper laughed at Barry's response, as Cisco asked confused, "Who was he referring to that's making you all mad Barry?"

Cooper laughed once more as he responded, "Don't worry about it. Barry just gets really protective about the ones he loves."

"Cooperrr…." Barry subtly threatened.

"The one he loves?" Iris repeated.

"Don't listen to Cooper, he's just trying to annoy me." Barry persisted.

"Yeah, I'm just joking. Plus, if Barry here doesn't kill me for saying that, she will." Cooper said with a chuckle, as Barry glared at him.

Changing the subject, Barry asked, "So how long are you going to be in town Coop?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. I just finished filming the last scene this morning, and we have to finish the rest of it, in Vancouver Canada. I'm supposed to leave in an hour." He admits begrudgingly.

"So this is goodbye?" Barry guessed.

"More like, a 'see you later'." Cooper tells him, standing up from his seat.

Giving him a smirk, Barry uttered, "See you later Coop."

"See you Barry." And with that Cooper gave him a great hug, which Barry responded to.

"It was nice meeting you guys. I hope to see you all soon." Cooper announced.

Everyone was quick to agree with Cooper, before he began to walk out of the shop.

"Hey Coop!" Barry called out to him when he was next to the exit door.

Cooper turned around just as Barry assured, "For the record, you're still my brother, no matter what."

Cooper smiled, and with a final wave, he departed.


	9. Pianist

It was another average workday for Barry, and as he sped through multiple case files, his phone beeped signaling a notification. With a sigh, he put down his files and checked his phone. Upon reading the message, Barry's eyes widened in fear as he murmured to himself, "Oh no, oh no. Not again!"

The message on his phone was actually a notification from his calendar, reminding him that it was "Test Day", otherwise known as the one day of the month that Barry despised the most.

"Test Day" is a day that happens once a month, where Caitlyn goes all out on testing him with various needles and procedures. It's also the day when Dr. Wells decides to torture Barry by making him try out various tasks at super speed. In other words, it's an extremely tiring day where Barry is literally pushed to his limits.

As much as Barry would have loved to miss all the testing today, he knew he didn't have a choice. Past experiences proved to him that no matter what excuse he would come up with, the people he for some unknown reason refers to as friends would find him. So as he completed the rest of his work, he mentally prepared himself for whatever insane task Dr. Wells had thought of this time.

When Barry was done with all the tedious amount of work the other detectives piled on to him, Barry made his way to Jitters, after realizing he wasn't needed at the lab for another 2 hours. Entering the coffee shop with his laptop bag on his shoulder, he ordered a caramel macchiato with a shot of Courvoisier, and sat down at a random unoccupied table.

Pulling his silver laptop out of his bag, he set it down on the table, plugged in his earphones, and turned it on. The second he was logged on, a notification popped up at the top of his browser, "Lopez3263 would like to video chat, do you accept or decline?" Pressing the accept button, Barry felt a smirk grace his face.

When the video call popped up, Barry's eyes landed on a beautiful Latina sitting on her bed with her laptop on her lap. She was wearing an oversized red Dalton lacrosse hoodie with navy blue writing on it, and she had a smile plastered on her face.

"Hey twink."

"Hey sha-queer-a, enjoying my sweat shirt? I was wondering where that was." Barry teased.

"Well it sucks to suck, now doesn't it? I quite enjoy this sweater, so there's no way you're getting it back." She told him.

"It looks better on you anyways." Barry admitted with a flirtatious smile.

Santana smirked as she replied, "Everything looks better on me."

With the flirtatious manner that Santana was all too used to, Barry leaned slightly forward and said quietly, " Was that meant to be a come on Lopez? And here I was thinking you were a lesbian."

Santana laughed at Barry's teasing advances as she replied, "And here I was thinking you were gay."

Barry scoffed as he leaned back in his seat, "Oh please, we both know I'm about as gay as a straight arrow."

"That's disgusting Bas." Santana joked.

Realizing what she was referring to, he replied, "That wasn't meant to be an innuendo! And you call me perverted."

"You ARE perverted, Bas. Seriously, you are a sex-addict."

"Takes one to know one Satan."

"Touché."

Smiling slightly, Barry admitted, "I've missed you Satan. It's been a while."

"I've missed you too twink. And have you thought that the reason we haven't seen each other in a while is due to the fact you haven't brought your annoying French ass down to Ohio to pay your dearest friend a visit." Santana speculated sarcastically.

"Well I haven't seen you rushing down to Central to visit." Barry retorted.

"Well, I'm not the one who forgot to tell her BEST FRIEND that she got struck by lightning." Santana reminded.

Wincing, Barry replied, "I said I was sorry! And I didn't want you to worry!"

"I didn't even know you were in a coma during those 9 months, I thought you were just ignoring my calls. I didn't even find out until 3 months ago, when Blaine mentioned it offhandedly. Blaine." She confessed angrily.

"I know, I know. Again I'm sorry. But I had to tell Blaine myself, since if I didn't, Cooper would have told him." He explained.

"Are you saying that Blaine and Cooper are better friends to you?" Santana threatened.

"No, of course not. You know you're my best friend Satan. I just knew that if you found out about the accident, you would have insisted about visiting without giving me a choice, or a notice."

With a satisfied, yet slightly evil smirk, Santana replied, "Well too bad Bas. I'm coming to visit whether you like it or not. And the best part about it, is that you're not going to have any idea when. I'm just going to drop in out of the blue, no warning, no notice."

With a smirk, Barry said, "Babe, if you wanted to see me, you could have just said so."

"You wish twinkle toes. Now, I better get ready for work. See ya babe."

"Bye Santana." Barry said with a soft smile, before logging off, and shutting down his laptop.

Realizing he only had 20 minutes to get to Star Labs, he chugged down the rest of his coffee, and ran.

Upon entering Star Labs, the first thing he noticed was a grand, mahogany piano standing alone in the center. At that moment, a flood of memories hit him at the same time. His mother used to play the piano, and ever since he was a young child his mother would teach him how to play. It didn't take long for him to become a master pianist, winning multiple recitals and trophies for his outstanding performances. While he was a natural, it was all under his mothers' tutelage. She herself was an amazing pianist, and the two of them would spend hours at a time playing together. Composing such delicate tunes was one of Barry's greatest talents and hobbies, and it was one he shared with his mother.

And then she was murdered. The last time he played piano after that, for a while at least, was at her funeral. He played "Canon in D", a personal favorite of his mothers. As he played, his eyes were shut tight, yet his fingers never faltered. He had played this piece hundreds of times, and this was to be the last. Halfway through the song, he could feel droplets of tears fall on his fingers. He didn't even realize he was crying. When his fingers touched the last note, he made a silent vow, a vow to never play again. And he kept that promise.

Until he became a Warbler. When his roommate Jeff needed help learning how to play the piano for his advanced music class, Barry found himself volunteering to teach him without thinking it through. He was scared at first, but the second his fingers touched the keys, everything came back to him. He felt the beauty of the music course through his veins, and as he played, his troubles were forgotten. For a moment, he recalled he wasn't supposed to play, and then he realized that he wasn't Barry Allen, he was Sebastian Smythe. And Sebastian played the piano with no worries. Santana was the first who found out about his slight reluctance to play piano, and she was the one to remind him that by playing, he was honoring his mothers' memory. From that moment on, he played. He played to remember his mother, to remember how much she loved it. While he was with the Warblers, he played almost daily, although he never played near his family. As far as Joe and Iris know, Barry hasn't played the piano since his mothers' funeral. If only they knew.

As he was concentrated on the piano, he didn't hear Cisco, Caitlyn, and Dr. Wells enter. "I see you found the piano, Mr. Allen." Dr. Wells noticed.

"Yeah... What's this for?" Barry asked.

Cisco was the one to answer, in his usual manner of excitement, "So we came up with a new idea to help you control your speed. We realized that one of the biggest factors in control is concentration, so if you were to learn how to play the piano, since that takes a lot of concentration, you can learn how to control your speed better. Think of it as just another training excersize. Simple really, I can't believe we haven't thought of it before. It's pure genius."

Mumbling nervously, Barry muttered, "Yeah, genius."

"I have some experience with the piano because of my brother, so I can teach you the basics." Cisco informed him.

"Great." Barry sighed.

Looking at her watch, Caitlyn announced, "As much as I hate to do this, I have to go visit my Uncle in Coast City, and if I don't leave now, I'll be late for the bus."

"Really, right now? I guess I'll come with you then, your Aunt is the best cook, like ever." Cisco said.

"You're both leaving? Very well, I'll walk, the two of you out." Dr. Wells said.

"Bye Barry, see you tomorrow!" Caitlyn called out.

"Yeah, Bye! I'll teach you how to play tomorrow." Cisco called out as he was leaving.

As the three of them departed, Barry was once again left alone in the room with the majestic piano. Taking a seat on the wooden bench placed across the piano, he let his fingers softly press against the keys. Without realizing it, a familiar tune began to play. Humming along with the song, memories of his mother came rushing back to him as "Canon in D" was being played. Soon, the song switched to Santana's personal favorite, "A River Flows in You" by "Yiruma". As the song progressed, the more into it he became. He started to loose himself in the music, and with his eyes shut, he left his well-trained fingers to guide themselves.

As he completed the final notes of the song, he heard clapping behind him. Startled by the sudden noise, he jumped out of his seat and turned around, only to see Caitlyn, Cisco, and Dr. Wells behind him clapping.

Caitlyn looked enchanted, and completely enamored by Barry's natural gift. Cisco looked down right surprised, with his jaw practically on the ground. Dr. Wells was smiling, and had a look of pleasant approval across his features.

"Barry! I had no idea you could play so well! That was beautiful!" Caitlyn appraised.

"I guess you don't need my help after all." Cisco joked after he got over the initial shock.

"I guess not." Barry laughed.

"Seriously dude, that was amazing! You're so much better then my brother." Cisco admitted.

"I myself must admit, you are quite a talented pianist, you must have been practicing for a while. Who taught you how to play?" Dr. Wells inquired.

Softly, Barry replied, "My mother."

At this, the room grew quiet in understanding. With that one small answer, they understood why they had never known about this particular talent before.

With a soft voice, Caitlyn said, "She would have been proud of you, you know."

Barry let a small smile graze his face as he replied, "I hope so."


	10. Bad Boy

Sebastian Smythe was always known as a bad boy. He had a penchant for leather jackets, and he was often seen riding a motorcycle. He was the type of guy who put alcohol in his coffee, and did whatever he wanted, whenever he felt like it.

He used to have multiple scars covering his body, some he received from fights, others from accidents, and quite a few from failed motorcycle stunts. They all healed up however after he was struck by lightning, it was one of the reasons why he was so shocked after seeing his reflection once he got out of the coma.

Now, Barry wasn't exactly proud of some of the things he had done as Sebastian. He recognized that he crossed the line a few times, and while he did feel somewhat guilty for some of his previous actions, he didn't regret most of them. He knew he was a terrible person most of the time, but it all made him the man he was today. There were, however, a few instances that Barry instantly regretted. For Barry to have regretted his actions, it would have to have been something over-the-line terrible. For example, he regretted almost blinding Blaine with a slushy.

Sebastian Smythe was a jerk. Everyone knew it. Some people however found that out a little too late.

**Line break**

Barry was watching an old sitcom on his living room couch, when Iris walked in through the door. 

"You know, as much as I love you Iris, you don't live here!" Barry called out.

"What a girl can't visit her best friend without being hounded?" Iris retorted as she flopped down on the couch next to the Scarlet Speedster.

"How are you Iris?" Barry asked, muting his TV show.

"Well, do you remember my friend Mary?"

"Uh, short, red hair, glasses?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Anyways, her cousin from Keystone, Chris, is coming to visit for a few days, and since Mary is working a lot to pay off her new car, she was hoping I would show him around the city and keep him company."

"And are you?"

"Of course! Mary is a good friend of mine, and her cousin seems like a cool guy, so why not?"

"True." Barry replied.

"You should meet him, you guys might become friends."

"Do I have a choice?" Barry asked jokingly.

"Not at all." Iris answered with a grin. At that moment, Barry's phone rang and Iris, who was closer to the phone, passed it over to Barry.

"Who's, Santana Lopez?" Iris asked passing the phone to Barry.

"Just an old friend." Barry replied as he got off the couch, and walked to the other side of the room for privacy.

Answering the phone with a smirk, Barry said, "Hey Satan, miss me already?"

"Oh please, as if I'll ever miss you twink." Santana replied.

"It's ok sha-queer-a, we both know you love me."

"The only thing I love about you are your sweaters."

With a laugh, Barry replied, " At this point they're more your sweaters then mine. You've definitely worn them more."

"They do look better on me then on you."

"That, we can both agree on."

From a distance, Iris called out to Barry, "Hey Bear. I'm ordering pizza. Do you want your usual?"

"Yeah!" Barry replied.

Santana gasped sarcastically as she mocked, "Bartholomew 'Sebastian Smythe' Allen, is that a girl I hear?"

"It's just Iris, Satan, don't get your panties all in a twist."

"I'm actually shocked Bas. It's a Friday night, and you're not hooking up with a random girl at a random bar. Whatever happened to my favorite sex-addict?" Santana joked.

"I wouldn't know, considering I never was a sex-addict."

Santana scoffed as she replied, "Oh please Bas, save that bullshit for someone who doesn't know you."

Laughing, Barry asked, "No offense Santy, but is there a reason you called?"

"There is, actually. I was bored, and felt like annoying you." Santana said. Barry could just feel her cheeky grin over the phone.

"How absolutely lovely Santy. So what's new babe?" He asked.

"Oh not much, just trying to find the perfect time to come and surprise my best friend."

Barry groaned as he recalled her promise to him the last time they spoke, " You're still on that?"

"Of course twink. After all, revenge is a dish best served cold."

"Santana…. Did you just quote Star Trek?" Barry asked amused.

"What can I say, you and your epic nerdiness is rubbing off on me Bas. Who would have guessed that 'Bad Boy Sebastian Smythe' would actually be a complete nerd?" Santana asked mockingly.

"I'm guessing the same person who said that Santana Lopez would never quote Star Trek." Barry retorted.

"Touché."

"Santana Lopez actually admitting defeat? Who are you, and what have you done to Aunt Snix?" Barry gasped mockingly.

"Ha, ha Bas, good try. But I never admit defeat, since I am never actually defeated."

"Whatever helps you sleep better at night Santy."

"Anyways, I better get going Bas. I have an early morning ahead of me."

"Always good to talk to you Sha-queer-a."

"Same here twink, same here. Take care of yourself Bas." Santana said, her voice laced with sincerity.

"You to Snixx." And with that, Barry hung up on his best friend.

Walking towards Iris, Barry put his phone on the coffee table, and flopped down on the couch.

"So, who's Santana?" Iris asked curiously, a smirk grazing her face.

"Just a friend."

"Oh really, she didn't sound like she was 'just a friend'. How come I never met her?"

With a sigh, Barry explained, "That's because we met back in high school."

Now understanding, Iris asked, "Paris or Dalton?"

"You do realize that Dalton is an all-male prep school, right? I actually met her during my time in Dalton, but she went to another school."

"Then how did the two of you meet?"

"We met through a mutual friend. He went to school with her."

"And how did you meet that friend?"

"Why so many questions today?" Barry asked, exasperated.

"Well, it's just that you never, ever talk about your life during high school. I barely know any details between Paris and your graduation, and in case you forgot, that's two years of your life I'm completely clueless about." Iris answered, equally annoyed.

At this, Barry softened, "I'm sorry Iris, I just don't like talking about it."

"Was it really that bad?"

"No, and that's the problem. Those were two of the best years of my life, and I hate myself for believing that."

"I don't see what the problem is!" Iris cried.

Softly, Barry answered, "Iris, I was a terrible person. I did terrible things. Can we just leave it at that?"

Seeing the miserable look that crossed Barry's features, she decided to let the topic go. Thankfully, at that very moment, the doorbell rang.

"That must be the pizza." Iris said, as she got up to open the door.

**Line Break**

The next morning was a busy one for the Scarlet Speedster. In between saving burning buildings, and writing up multiple case reports, Barry had absolutely no free time.

By the end of the day, Barry was completely exhausted, so per ritual, he went to Jitters. Stepping up to the counter, he saw Mary, Iris's friend, working.

"Hey Mary, how are you?" Barry asked politely.

"Oh, hey Barry! I'm pretty good. What about you?" She kindly replied.

"I'm great. Isn't your cousin in town today?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, he is. But since I had to work today, Iris is showing him around and keeping him company. I totally owe her."

Barry chuckled and replied, "I'm sure she's glad to comply."

"Anyways, what can I get you Barry?"

Drawing his face into a smirk, Barry leaned across the counter, and answered softly, "I would like a caramel macchiato. But just between me and you, would you add just a shot of Courvoisier in there?"

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if you're an alcoholic."

"You wouldn't be the first." Barry answered, charm oozing out of voice effortlessly.

"Sure Barry, I'll bring you your drink in a minute."

"Thanks Mary, you're the best."

Taking a seat, Barry pulled a book out of his messenger bag, and began to read. As promised, Mary brought him his odd drink a minute later.

Some time went by, before Iris walked through the door, with another person in tow.

The guy behind her looked slightly older then Barry, with a muscular physique, blond hair, and hazel eyes. In fact, the guy looked quite familiar to Barry. He could hear them as they approached Mary. _Ah, so that must be Chris, Mary's cousin _Barry thought. Mary was quick to point Barry out, and as Iris and Chris approached him, he finally pieced together why Chris looked so familiar. _Oh shit, well I'm screwed _Barry thought.

When they finally reached him, Iris introduced, "Hey B, this is Chris. Chris, this is-"

Iris never got to finish her sentence, since at that very moment, Chris punched Barry right in the jaw, and Barry made no move to defend himself.

"I know exactly who he is." Chris snarled angrily, before walking out of Jitters. Mary, in shock, quickly followed after her cousin. After all, who would be violent towards sweet Barry Allen?

"Oh my god, Barry! Are you ok?" Iris cried, running to Barry and checking his wound.

"I'm fine Iris." He said, getting off of the floor, and sitting back down in his seat.

"I'm so sorry Bear! I had no idea-"

"Don't apologize. It was my fault." Barry said calmly.

"What are you talking about?! He punched you!" Iris exclaimed.

"Yeah, but I deserved it."

"How do you even know him?"

"We met back when I was still in Dalton."

"That doesn't explain why he felt the need to punch you!"

"I told you earlier Iris, I did a lot of things that I regret. I wasn't a good person."

"What could you have possibly done that would make him want to punch you in the face?" Iris asked, bewildered.

A sorrow look crossed Barry's features as he replied.

"I slept with his fiancé."


	11. Rival

After a long day of work, Barry decided to head over to Star Labs, where he hoped to find some peace and quiet while he worked on some of his unfinished case files. Of course, that wasn't the case.

"Action movies are so much better then Romance movies!" Cisco argued with Caitlyn.

"You have got to be joking, romance movies are wonderful! Why would I watch an action movie, when I practically live in one?" Caitlyn argued right back.

"Because they're awesome!"

"Childish, simply childish."

"What about you Barry, what's your favorite type of movie?" Cisco asked, directing the question to the young forensic scientist.

"Musicals." Barry answered without missing a beat, nor looking up from his work.

Silence was all that followed, before Cisco asked, his voice laced with doubt, "Seriously."

"What's wrong with musicals?" Barry inquired, finally looking up from his work.

"Nothing! It's just that we didn't really peg you for a fan of musicals." Caitlyn replied hastily, just as Cisco changed the subject.

"So anyways, the reason we were having this argument to begin with, was because I was trying to find out what movie to rent for the weekend. My evil cousin Danny is coming to town to visit, and there's no way I'm going to talk to him, so I need a way to distract him. Which brings me back to my predicament, what movie should I rent?" Cisco rambled.

"Why do you think Danny is evil?" Barry asked. He had mixed feelings about the term 'evil'. As a superhero, people who were evil were supposed to be locked up. But what made a person evil? After all, there was a point in time where all of Barry's now closest friends, associated his name with the term 'evil'.

"I don't think he's evil, I KNOW he's evil. He's a smug, good for nothing, narcissistic asshole, who thinks that whole world owes him just because he's alive. Hell, my brother is a modest saint compared to Danny." Cisco confessed.

"Ouch." Barry grimaced.

"I think you should talk to him." Caitlyn offered.

"No way in hell." Cisco declined.

"Listen to what I have to say. Take him out to a club and get him drunk, that way he won't be as bad as he usually is sober. And Barry and I could be there with you as back-up." Caitlyn explained.

"Dr. Caitlyn Snow, you are a genius!" Cisco exclaimed, before running out of the lobby.

Barry laughed at the entire exchange, finding humor in Cisco's reaction.

"Barry, Cisco wasn't lying about Danny being a bad guy. Be careful." Caitlyn warned.

Wiping a smile off his face, Barry answered seriously, "I've dealt with worse."

A few days later, Barry, Cisco, and Caitlyn found themselves in the same bar that they all frequented with Eddie and Iris a few months previous,

In a nervous tone, Cisco told them, "Ok, remember guys, don't take anything Danny says personally."

"It's fine Cisco, just try to take your own advice." Caitlyn replies.

"And I hate to ask you guys this, but can you guys not get drunk tonight? I need all the back-up I can get." Cisco asks.

While Caitlyn nods, Barry answered dejectedly, "It's not like I have much of a choice on that matter."

"Hey Cece." They hear a voice say behind them. Cisco visibly flinches at the awful nickname, before he gets out of his seat and turn to acknowledge his cousin, "Hey Danny. These are my friends, Barry and Caitlyn." Barry turned around to see a tall man, although only slightly shorter then Barry. He had long, dark brown hair, tan skin, and the darkest shade of brown Barry had ever seen as eyes. Barry supposed that most women, and frankly men, would find the man attractive.

"I would say it's a pleasure to meet you guys, but then I would actually be lying. I've never been one to get along with Cisco's friends, they're usually all nerds, and according to what I have heard about the two of you so far, I assume the same could be said for you." Danny says sitting down at the table.

Cisco and Caitlyn are both at a loss of words, until Barry easily responds, "Likewise, you're not exactly easy on the eyes."

Danny scoffs as he says, "Oh please, I'm gorgeous."

"You know, you shouldn't believe everything your mother tells you." Barry replies with a smirk.

"Just as you shouldn't believe that your shirt looks even mildly flattering on you."

"Oh, what a shame. My friend worked really hard on this design, but I'm totally sure he cares all about your input." Barry said sarcastically. He could only imagine what Kurt would do if he ever heard someone make fun of his designs. That thought alone was enough to make Barry force himself to stifle a laugh as he stared down Danny.

Amused, Danny got out of his seat, "I'm going to go get a drink." He said before walking away towards the bar.

Finally snapping out of it, Cisco exclaimed, "Dude that was amazing! How the hell did you leave my cousin speechless!"

"Easy. In order to beat an asshole, you just have to be the bigger asshole." Barry answered.

"Well who knew the sweet Barry Allen could be an asshole?" Caitlyn teased.

To himself, Barry whispered under his breath, "Oh not many, just the entire state of Ohio, and everyone in the country France."

"What was that Barry?" Caitlyn asked, believing she heard him say something.

"Oh nothing." Barry insisted as he took a drink from the glass of Courvoisier he purchased earlier in the evening.

_**Flashback; Paris**_

_It was just another average summer morning in Paris. The weather had been great so far, and the streets were bubbling with the usual amount of tourists hoping to experience an amazing day in the City of Love. The locals however, were much more relaxed, as proved by one Sebastian Smythe as he sat at his usual table in the café La Merveille. He was trying to read up on some Organic Chemistry when his close friend and waitress Éclair brought him his usual order._

"_You know, when I told you to put Courvoisier in your coffee, I didn't think I would turn you into an alcoholic." Éclair teased in her native tongue._

"_Well don't worry, since I am not, nor do I ever plan to be, an alcoholic." Sebastian replied as he looked up from his textbook. _

"_You can deny all you want Bas, but you can't trick me, I'm far to clever for that."_

"_Whatever helps you sleep at night," He tells her with a smirk, as he takes a sip out of his coffee._

_As she catches eye of his book, she jokes, "You know, you might seem like a total badass, but when you are caught reading books like that it lets people know what a cute little nerd you really are."_

_Teasing her right back, Barry puts on a smirk and replies, "Well you only think that because you don't have enough brain cells to comprehend what this book is saying. Plus, nerdy is the new sexy."_

_Éclair shoves his shoulder playfully before she informs him rapidly in French, "Hey, you know that guy I've been talking too? Francois? Well, we've been on a few dates, and I actually like him. He's coming here soon so we can hang out after my shift. I plan on introducing the two of you, so please be on your best behavior Bas." _

"_I'm no pushover mon ami." He tells her somewhat seriously. After spending so much time being bullied, there was no way Barry was going to let anyone step all over him ever again. He made that mistake once, and it cost him dearly. It took him switching countries, transferring schools, and faking his name to get away. There was no way he was going to let his new life as Sebastian Smythe go to waste. _

"_I know Bas, trust me I know. But can you please dial back the sass, just a little bit, please? For me?" She pleaded with puppy dog eyes._

_Finding himself cracking, he huffed out jokingly as he replied, "Yeah yeah yeah, sure thing. I'll be a good boy, unless he totally deserves it. But for the record, if he can't handle me, then he isn't man enough for you."_

"_And I love you all the more for caring." She tells him, as she kisses his cheek, and goes back to work._

_At this point, Barry returned his attention back to his book, finding himself completely absorbed in the world of complex chemical equations. _

_Time flew by, but Barry was too preoccupied to notice. Pretty soon, he was once again joined at the table by Éclair, only this time she had someone with her, Francois he presumed. He was significantly shorter then Barry, however he was still slightly shorter then Éclair, but only barely. He had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a square jaw. He wore dark green jeans, a white V-neck with navy blue stripes, and a dark green scarf._

_Knowing that Francois knew absolutely no English, he kept everything he said in French, and surprisingly polite tone, "Hey, nice to meet you."_

"_Sure, you too." Francois replied uninterested as he took a seat at Barry's table. Barry hid his disdain quite successfully from his friend._

"_Ok, well I have to go finish work, but I'm off the clock soon, so hang out with Sebastian till then." Éclair said, before leaving the two men alone._

_After a minute of awkward silence, Barry decided to break it, "So what do you like to do?"_

"_Please don't talk to me. Frankly, the only reason I'm here is to hook up with a hot girl, not to talk to a gay looking Broadway wannabe." Francois told him dismissively._

"_First off, I'm definitely not gay, not that it would be any of your concern if I was anyways. Second, while I do love Broadway, my future is in the field of science. Third, if you think Éclair is going to give in that easily to you, then you are going to be disappointed. After all, it took me a month of constant friendship and charm to get her into my bed." Barry finished with a satisfied and devious smirk._

"_You what?!" Francois screeched. In a fit of rage, he got off his chair, and stormed out of the café._

_Éclair, hearing the commotion, came running out of the kitchen towards Barry, "What the hell Bas?! I left you two alone for 5 minutes! How did you already chase him away? I thought you promised to be nice!"_

_Barry shrugged and drank his coffee, "No no, I said I'd be nice as long as he doesn't deserve it, which he definitely did. Plus, it's not like I lied about anything, he's the one who couldn't handle the truth."_

_**End of Flashback**_

By the time Danny came back, drink in hand, Cisco and Caitlyn had just gotten over their shock at Barry's 'dark side'.

"So tell me little cousin, what is there to do in Central City?" Danny asked condescendingly.

Barry faked innocence as he replied before Cisco had the chance to, "Well, I heard that there is a great train station not too far from here, one of the best in the country. I could take you if you wanted."

Danny glared at him, as Cisco tried to hide his laugh behind a drink, quite unsuccessfully however.

"Yeah whatever you say baby face. Cisco, lets leave, it's quite obvious we aren't wanted here." And with that Danny got up, and left the bar.

As soon as he was out of sight, both Cisco and Caitlyn began to laugh out loud. "Barry! That was amazing!" Caitlyn cried.

"Yeah, I have never seen my cousin so mad and humbled. He didn't even retort with an insult!" Cisco agreed.

"Yes, well I am quite clever is I do say so myself." Barry joked.

The smile was soon wiped out of Cisco's face as he said, "Well, I better go with my cousin. Thanks for everything guys, it should be a lot easier to deal with him after this massive blow to his ego." And with that, Cisco was off.

Turning to Barry, Caitlyn couldn't help but ask, "How did you know how to handle him so well?"

Barry shrugged and replied, "Let's just say I have experience in this particular field."


	12. Blaine

Blaine Anderson was NOT having a good day. For some god-forsaken reason, his manager decided that he needed to do a charity concert in California. This usually would not have been a problem, if it weren't for the fact that his manager hadn't informed him of said concert until 45 minutes before his plane took off. When he missed the plane, he had to get a different flight, one that had a lay over in Central City. But of course, his flight from Central City to LA was delayed for another 5 hours, so he was stuck in this city. He had just gotten out of the airport, when he decided that he needed coffee, fast. A taxi driver took him to what he believed was the best coffee shop in Central City, which was mostly empty, so Blaine wouldn't get too much unwanted attention.

Entering Jitters, Blaine made sure his hat and sunglasses were firmly in place. Sure, it wasn't the best or most unique disguise, but it worked.

He ordered his coffee at the counter, before taking a seat to what he had assumed was an empty table. So far, he hadn't been recognized. He usually never had a problem with fans, in fact he welcomed them, but he was not in the mood today. He was too busy thinking of ways to kill his manager while making it look like an accident. _Maybe I should ask Bas about it, after all, he is a scientist… BAS! _In his fit of anger about an unnecessary delay, Blaine had forgotten all about calling his best friend to let him know he was in town.

"You know, if you wanted my seat babe, you could have just asked." Blaine heard someone tell him. It was only then that he had noticed that there was a laptop bag sitting on another seat at the table he was occupying. Looking up, he saw the smirking face of one Barry Sebastian Smythe Allen.

"BASSY!" Blaine screamed, getting up to tackle his best friend in a hug.

Barry laughed and returned the hug with equal force. After they let go, Barry teased, "You know, for a guy that doesn't want to get recognized, you make quite the scene."

Realizing that everyone in the quaint coffee shop was now looking at him, Blaine felt a blush creep up to his cheeks.

"Umm." Blaine muttered.

"Damn, who knew after all of these years that the whole bashful school boy thing is still super hot." Barry joked with a smirk.

"Oh shut up Bas, we both know you're not gay." Blaine said.

"Only for you." Barry once again joked putting his arm around his friend's shoulders.

"Whatever you say Sebastian." Blaine said.

"You only call me Sebastian when you're annoyed. Is it because I've got you all flustered?" Barry teased.

"No, I only call you Sebastian when you're being an ass, which is pretty much all the time."

"Awww, I'm so touched that you spend so much time thinking about my ass. Don't worry, I think about yours too." Barry joked.

"I can't believe we're best friends." Blaine deadpanned.

"Speaking about best friends, care to explain why mine is in town, but failed to inform me?"

"Oh please, I didn't need to inform you, all I had to do was walk into a random coffee shop, and I would probably find you. You live in them anyways."

"True true. Still doesn't explain why you're in town though."

"The truth is, my manager is making me do some charity concert in LA, but he didn't tell me about it until 45 minutes before my plane took off. I obviously missed that flight, so when I did get a plane, it had a connecting flight to Central City, but now my flight is delayed. By the time I realized that I hadn't called you yet, you were already hitting on me."

For the first time since Blaine had arrived, Barry gave him a real smile, "Well, it's always good to have you in town killer. When's your next flight?"

"Not for another few hours." Blaine informed him.

"Well then, you're coming with me, and before you ask, no you don't have a choice."

"Of course, why would I ever assume anything different?" Blaine responded sarcastically before picking up his coffee, and following Barry out of the shop.

"So this is where you work?" Blaine asked, entering the precinct with Barry.

"Yup! Central City Police Department; filled with the finest detectives, and best looking scientist this world has ever seen."

"Who knew Sebastian Smythe could be such a model citizen?" Blaine asked jokingly.

Barry gasped mockingly, "Me?! I'm nothing if not an outstanding, and perfect citizen."

"So you're nothing then?" Blaine mocked, before getting shoved in the shoulder by Barry.

"Shut up."

The two of them laughed as they walked up the stairs to Barry's lab.

"So how's Lady Hummel?" Barry asked.

Blaine chuckled, "Kurt's fine, but he'd be more fine if you stopped calling him Lady Hummel."

"No chance babe, porcelain was practically asking for an eternity of mean nicknames after calling me a meerkat."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask, what kind of 'cutting-edge fashion is usually only seen on Puerto-Rican pride floats?'" Blaine asked.

Barry laughed, "So princess told you about that huh? And to answer your question, it's whatever peacock colored tragedy your husband found in Lady Gaga's reject pile, and decided to wear for the day."

"You know you're not fooling anyone right? Everyone knows how close the two of you have gotten, especially after being best man in our wedding."

"You're right, I love him like a brother, but that doesn't give him any less of a gay face." Barry said jokingly.

"I give up on the two of you." Blaine conceded.

"Finally!" Barry cried as the two of them entered the lab.

"Wow." Blaine stated as he saw the lab.

"I try." Barry said with a smirk.

"I still can't believe that you're the same person that I meant in high school. Who knew you actually had any brain cells?"

Barry gasped in fake pain, "I'm offended by that statement! I will have you know Mr. Anderson, that I was high school valedictorian."

"Yeah, I was there. And when you went on stage to give your speech, no one believed that you were the actual Valedictorian, they thought that it was some kind of elaborate prank you were trying to pull." Blaine reminded him, laughing at the memory.

"Well, they were just jealous of my obvious superior intellect."

"Sure Bas, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Blaine said.

"You know, you certainly could help me sleep at night, then again, we wouldn't be doing much sleeping." Barry teased with a smirk.

"You do realize that you're straight right?" Blaine once again asked.

"Oh, I'm well aware that I'm straight, but I just have too much fun in annoying you."

Looking at his watch, Blaine was shocked to see how fast the time went by. He realized he had to hurry back to the airport if he didn't want to miss his next flight.

"You have to go, don't you?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, yeah I do." Blaine admitted sadly.

"Come on, let me get you a taxi." Barry said.

Walking outside of the precinct, they stood on the street as a taxi came to a stop next to them.

Pulling Blaine into a hug, Barry whispered into his ear, "Make sure you come to visit soon."

Pulling away, Blaine gave his friend a smile and said, "You know, Santana mentioned something about planning a visit here. Maybe I'll just come with her."

Sighing, Barry asked, "She was serious about that?"

Laughing, Blaine responded, "Come on Bas, we both know when Santana sets her mind on something, there's no changing it."

"Don't I know it. Hey, make sure that when you do come, you bring Lady Hummel with you, ok?"

"Aw, you really do miss Kurt!"

"If you tell him, I will end you."

Blaine laughed, before saying, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

"Bye Bas."

"Bye Babe." And with a final wink from Barry, Blaine got into the taxi, and drove away.


	13. The Model

At this moment, Barry decided there was nothing more amusing than a frantic Captain Singh. He started the day out by thinking that it was going to be another boring day in Central City, but watching Singh looking so troubled made him realize that this day may not be as boring as he originally assumed.

Barry chuckled as he leaned back on a random desk placed in the center of the precinct. Taking a sip of his coffee (which at this point was more Courvoisier then anything), he watched the Captain walk back and forth the lobby nervously, pulling at his fingers, and running his hand through his hair. Singh was always so meticulous about his appearance and he was always calm and collected. To see him this worried amused Barry, and he relished this sight, since he knew he was most likely not going to see his boss this bad ever again. It was times like this when Barry remembered just how little he gets to enjoy the Sebastian part of his personality. Though laughing at his Boss's troubles definitely counted as a Sebastian trait.

He missed the carefree attitude that came with being Sebastian. Once that smirk is plastered on his face, all traces of his conscious are thrown out of the window. In a way, watching his Boss fret with worry reminded Barry of his devious alter ego, that he tended to miss.

After a few more minutes of watching this comical scene, Barry decided that he has had enough amusement at his Captains expense for one day, and approached him.

"Hey Captain? Something troubling you?" Barry asked, attempting to stifle his laughter.

"What do you want Allen?" Singh asked, obviously not in the mood to speak to the always late, yet admittedly genius CSI.

"Just wanted to make sure you were OK Boss, you seem a little, dare I say, nervous." Barry replied, hiding his "Sebastian smirk" by taking a sip of his coffee.

Singh just sighed before revealing, "Well, you know my fiancé Rob right?" At Barry's nod, he continued, "Well, even though I met the majority of his family, I never met his sister. Even though I know they are extremely close, she's never in the country. She's a model, so she's always traveling around Europe for photo shoots. She's coming to town today, and she and Rob are supposed to be here soon so we can have lunch together. I guess I'm a little nervous."

"Don't be. Rob's an amazing guy, who obviously loves you, and if his sister is anything like him, she'll love you to." Barry reassured with a smile on his face. However inwardly, his smirk was firmly in place. He couldn't help but note the difference between him now, and him in high school. If he were still Sebastian, he would probably twist his words to make him sound sincere, but would really just end up making Singh feel even worse.

Singh visibly relaxed at Barry words, "Huh, thanks Allen, that's actually pretty good advice. You know I was really questioning my niece's sanity when it was revealed that she dated you, now at least I know that you're not a total moron."

Barry laughed good naturedly as he remembered his reunion with Nicki. "You're still hung up on that, huh?"

Singh just chuckled in response, however as he glanced at the entrance door to the precinct, he once again stiffened. Barry followed his gaze and watched as two very familiar people entered.

One was a man of average height wearing a suit, which Barry immediately recognized as Rob, Singh's fiancé. Walking next to him was a gorgeous woman, her blond hair flowing over her shoulders. She was meticulously dressed in the latest fashion, and her heels could be heard from the other side of the building. She looked around Barry's age, and it was obvious to anyone watching that she was most definitely a model.

"Hello Rob. And you must be Isabel, it's great to finally meet you." Singh said, as he shook his future sister-in-laws hand.

"It's lovely to meet you to David, I've really been looking forward to this. My big brother just won't shut up about you." Isabel replied with a smile.

"Are you going to introduce us David?" Rob questioned, obviously referring to Barry.

Realizing that Barry was indeed still next to him, he was about to begin introductions, before he was interrupted by Isabel, "Sebastian, looking as dashing as ever."

With his signature smirk plastered on his face, he raised Isabel's hand to his lip where he placed a gentle kiss, "And you are as beautiful as ever Izzy."

"Wait a minute, you two know each other?" Rob questioned.

"You can say that." Isabel answered questionably.

"Did you just call him Sebastian?" Singh asked, perplexed.

"That's my middle name. It's what I went by at that time." Barry explained vaguely. Singh still looked skeptical, but he accepted Barry's answer.

"Can someone explain to me who the heck you are?" Rob exclaimed. It was then that Barry remembered that the only time he actually met Rob, was during the alternate timeline, when Singh was in the hospital dying.

"Right, I'm sorry. Bartholomew Sebastian Smythe Allen, but I prefer going by Barry." Barry stated, introducing himself to Rob.

"Oh, you're the CSI right? So, how is it that you two know each other?" Rob asked, still wondering how they knew each other.

"We knew each other back during my college days." Barry replied.

"I'm guessing the two of you were a little more then friends?" Rob guessed.

"Trust me brother, you do not want to know." Isabel warned with a flirtatious smile directed towards Barry.

Singh sighed in frustration, "Why is it that you always seem to have some sort of Romantic entanglement with every beautiful girl I happen to be related to?"

Barry laughed in response, "It's a gift."

"As much as I hate to cut this reunion short, we must get going to lunch, or we'll be late." Rob reminded them.

"Can you come with us Sebby? Please?" Isabel begged her old friend. She was obviously looking forward to catching up with him.

"Only if it's not a problem with the rest of you." Barry stated.

"It's ok with me. I for one want to know more of how it is exactly that you met my precious sister." Rob announced.

With a final frustrated sigh, Singh answered, "Fine, you can come to lunch with us. But this better to hell be the last time I find out that you slept with one of my current, and or future relatives."

"No promises." Barry muttered under his breath, before following the rest of them out of the precinct. He was well aware of his womanizing ways, so while the fact that he bedded two of Singh's relatives was quite a coincidence, he wasn't exactly too surprised.

By the time they reached the restaurant and ordered their food, both Singh and Rob were quite interested to know how it is that Barry and Isabel met. The two of them were sitting next to each other, occasionally sending each other little smiles, and flirtatious winks.

"It's actually quite the amusing story." Isabel admitted with a smile.

"Well, feel free to tell me how my clumsy CSI managed to become the center of attention during an introductory lunch with my future sister-in-law." Singh muttered.

"Feeling bitter over there Captain?" Barry teased with his usual smirk.

"Just shut up and tell us the story." Singh demanded.

Barry laughed once more at Singh's irritation. He really was enjoying his Boss's frustration, especially now that he was the cause of it.

"It all began one summer in Paris…"


	14. The Model Part 2

_Previously_

"_How do you two know each other?"_

"_It all began one summer in Paris…_

_Now_

Barry took a sip of his coke before continuing his story, "I had just completed my first year of college. At the time, I studied in Paris until I received my two year associates degree."

Singh interrupted before Barry could continue with his story, "You lived in Paris?"

"Yeah, for a while in high school, and then two years in college. My mother was Parisian, and my uncle still lives there."

"Go back to the story." Isabel reminded.

"Right! Anyways, as I was saying, it was the summer after my first year in college, and I was extremely bored…"

_Flashback_

_It was a warm morning, the sun was shining, and the streets of Paris were bustling with activity. The tourists were everywhere, and their excitement was practically contagious. It seemed like everyone was in a good mood today, except one Barry Sebastian Smythe Allen._

_Barry was once again at La Merveille, the café in which he spent most of his time in Paris. His friend since high school, Éclair, still worked there, and was the manager._

_He was leaning against his chair while drinking his alcohol filled coffee, bored out of his mind. He had no classes this summer, and he had absolutely nothing to study. Most people would think that one could never be bored in Paris, but what they don't realize is that the locals have already seen the sights, and more then anything they hate tourists. Tourist season meant more work, less pay, and longer waits in traffic and lines. It was truly horrible._

_Barry briefly thought about getting a job, but quickly decided against it as he watched Éclair being stressed about the sheer amount of customers, most who didn't even speak French. _

_The café was full today, as it was almost every day during tourist season. Every table was full, so it didn't come as too much as a surprise to Barry when someone approached him, asking if they could sit at his table with him. _

_The girl took a seat in front of Barry, giving him an opportunity to study her. She was blond, and extremely gorgeous. Somehow, Barry's day just became a lot more interesting._

_In an American accent, the girl asked in English, "Do you speak English."_

"_Yeah, I do." Barry replied._

"_Oh, you're American?"_

"_Born in America, but I live here in Paris."_

"_Oh that's cool. Do you come to this café often."_

"_Only every day since High School."_

"_Wow, that's pure dedication."_

"_Thank you. I like to pride myself in my upmost dedication." He replied with a smirk._

"_I'm Isabel, by the way."_

"_Nice to meet you Izzy, I'm Sebastian Smythe."_

_End of Flashback_

"So you guys met in a café?" Rob asked.

"Essentially." Barry replied.

"I still don't get it." Rob stated.

"What don't you get?" Barry questioned.

"I don't get why someone as beautiful as Isabel would go out with you, no offense." Rob clarified.

"Sebastian here _can _be quite charming." Isabel admitted.

"Is that a synonym for always late and clumsy?" Singh deadpanned.

"Nicki found me to be charming as well." Barry teased with a smirk. He was having way too much fun annoying his boss.

"You just had to remind me about my niece, didn't you!" Singh cried, exasperated.

"So you guys just started hanging out after that one meeting?" Rob asked.

Barry and Isabel shared a look, before Barry began to say, "Not exactly…"

_Flashback: 1 Day Later_

_Barry was waiting at La Merveille, waiting for Isabel to arrive. They made plans the day before to meet up, but Isabel was running quite late._

_Just when Barry was going to give up on waiting for her, Isabel ran through the doors, and took a seat at his table._

"_Running late I see." Barry teased._

"_I'm sorry Sebby. Well, you know how I'm a model, and I'm here for work?"_

"_Yeah, I recall."_

"_Well, todays photo shoot ran long. One of our top male models quit, and now we can't find a replacement! If we don't find someone soon, then the whole thing will be canceled."_

"_That sucks, I'm sure you can find someone to fill in."_

"_See, that's the problem. They are very specific on what kind of model they want. He has to be lean, but with muscles, tall, with a sexy smile, and on top of all that he has to be charming so that he can work the press. Now tell me, where am I going to find an intelligent guy that charm his way to good publicity, and has all of the previous mentioned qualities, on such short notice?" Just as Isabel finished her rant, she had a genius idea come to her._

"_You!" She exclaimed._

"_What?" Barry asked._

"_You! You'll be the perfect replacement!" She quickly explained._

_Barry chuckled, "Honey, I'm not a model."_

"_Maybe not, but you look like one! Plus, just yesterday you were telling me how bored you were, modeling would give you something to do! Please?!" She begged._

"_I don't know…" Barry said, trailing off._

"_There are a lot of gorgeous models you'll have to work closely with, including me." She said, trying desperately to persuade him._

"_When do I start?" He asked with a charming smirk. _

_End of Flashback_

"Hold up! You. You were a male model?" Singh blurted, obviously not believing him.

"I just said that." Barry reminded.

"You. Barry Allen. Were a French model." Singh repeated, still shocked.

"Well, technically he still is a French model, after all, they haven't taken down the billboard downtown of you yet." Isabel confessed.

"Oh right! I forgot that it was still there." Barry admitted.

"Your fans refused to let them change the picture." She added.

"Why would they? I'm gorgeous!" Barry bragged.

"Oh dear lord, I only have two explanations for this. Either I got sucked into an alternate dimension, or I'm dying." Singh speculated.

"How would you have gotten sucked into an alternate dimension? While it isn't exactly impossible, it's quite improbable, and you would have definitely noticed." Barry interjected.

"Dying it is then." Singh revealed.

"Oh hush honey. Stop talking like that, you're fine!" Rob assured.

"All I know is that a world where Barry Allen is a model, is a world I don't belong in." Singh said dramatically.

"But Barry Allen isn't a model." Barry said with a smirk.

"But you just said...!" Singh started.

"No, I didn't. Barry Allen isn't the model, Sebastian Smythe is." Barry announced.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?!" Singh yelled, frustrated beyond belief.

Barry just chuckled in amusement, before getting up off his seat. He placed money on the table to pay the bill, before grabbing Isabel's hand and walking towards the door.

"You'll understand someday!" Barry called back to them, before leaving the restaurant along with Isabel.

Singh just leaned back in his seat, confused about everything that had just transpired.

"I know you said that Allen was a weird kid, but what the heck just happened?" Rob asked, also confused.

"I don't know Rob. But something tells me that we're going to find out soon enough."


	15. Thawne Family Dinner

Barry felt a headache quickly coming along as Iris kept complaining, which was saying a lot considering Barry couldn't even get headaches anymore. They were currently sitting at Jitters, while Iris was talking at a speed that even he as The Flash was impressed with.

"Iris, slow down. What's wrong?" Barry asked concerned.

Iris sighed, exasperated, as she looked at her hands, "It's nothing really. I'm just super nervous."

"I thought the great Iris West didn't get nervous?" Barry teased his best friend.

"She does when her boyfriends family comes to town from Keystone City." Iris corrected.

"Eddie's family is coming to town? What's the big deal? I thought you already met his family."

"No, I met his cool, relaxed cousins from Happy Harbor. I've never met his parents and siblings. They're coming to town to visit, and I _have _to make a good impression."

"Ok, I can understand that. But what I don't understand is why you're so nervous. You've never had any problems meeting your previous boyfriend's parents before, so why are you stressing about it this time?" Barry pondered curiously.

Iris sighed once more before she explained, "This time is different. I really care about Eddie, more so then any other previous boyfriend. Plus, his family is... Different."

"Iris, you really suck at explaining situations." Barry confessed.

Iris rolled her eyes, "What I mean is that Eddie comes from a semi well known family. They have money, not enough to call them millionaires, but they're well-off. Eddie is the youngest of his family. Both of his parents are doctors, his brother is also a doctor, and his sister is a doctor. In their eyes, Eddie is the failure of the family, the black sheep."

Barry pulled a little of Sebastian before he replied, "How can Eddie be a failure if he has you?"

"Stop teasing Barry. I'm being serious here!" Iris exclaimed.

Barry chuckled slightly, and reassured her, "It'll be fine Iris, stop worrying."

"It's just we're supposed to have dinner tonight, and I can't help but worry. What if I make a bad impression? What if they don't think I'm good enough for a Thawne? What if…"

Barry did not allow her to finish her thought, "Iris! Everything will be fine! Just be yourself, and if they have a problem with you, then it's their problem! Not yours! And anyways, they're going to love you. You're the perfect girlfriend, and anyone can see that you and Eddie are in love."

"I can't mess up this meeting Barry, I just can't. I've got to go, I'm late for work." And with that Iris picked up her bag, and stormed out of the café.

Barry sighed and put his head on his hands. Iris somehow managed to convince herself that her entire relationship with Eddie relied on this one meeting with his over pompous family. Barry scoffed at the absurdity.

Unlike Iris, Barry knew just how easy it was to impress the upper class, not that he would even consider the Thawne's to be upper class. Sure, they had more money than most, but Barry was a Smythe, who is friends with a Queen, practically a brother to the Andersons, and the figurative twin of a certain St James. Needless to say, Barry was quite familiar with the wealthy.

Barry still thought that Iris shouldn't try to hard to impress the Thawne's, and that she should only be herself, but she was dead set on making a good impression. And knowing Iris as well as he did, he knew the only way she could truly make a good impression was with the help of one Sebastian Smythe. So he set his plan in motion.

* * *

Looping his arm with Iris's, she said, "Thanks for helping me out Barry. I really needed this."

"It's the least I could do." He admitted with a smile, as the duo walked into Central City Mall.

They walked straight towards their favorite department store, where Iris picked several dresses before going towards the fitting room. Barry sat right outside the door as Iris changed.

"Thanks again for this Barry! I'd be hopelessly lost without you." Iris called from inside the fitting room.

"No problem Iris." This was usual occurrence for the two. While Iris had some sense of fashion, Barry was the true fashion expert. He was the one who usually accompanied Iris on shopping trips, since they both knew that Iris was absolutely hopeless without him. Buying a dress for the Thawne family dinner tonight was no different.

Not many people know that Barry is good with fashion, but when they ask him, he claims that it's because he's French, and moving to Paris gave him an eye for clothing. Plus, attending an all-male prep school, and being friends with Kurt Anderson-Hummel certainly helped. His sizeable trust fund also helped fund his expensive taste in clothing.

"So what do you think of this one?" Iris said opening the door, and showing her dress to Barry. It was a short, black, strapless cocktail dress.

"Are you trying to impress his family, or seduce them?" Barry questioned teasingly.

"A simple 'no' would suffice you know." Iris stated, before closing the door to try on another dress.

Barry chuckled at Iris's response, and leaned back against the chair. Despite what Barry always tells Iris, he really does love shopping with her. He claims to hate being dragged around stores by her, but he likes that she counts on his opinion. Loving and understanding fashion is the only "Sebastian trait" that Iris knows about, so in these moments he truly feels like himself.

"Ok, what about this one?" Iris asks, once again opening the door.

It was a loose, simple, green dress, with small straps along the shoulders.

"If you want to give off a good impression, I'm not sure that pretending you got knocked up is the way to go."

Iris gasped and examined her dress, "I look pregnant?!"

Barry smirked and replied, "Not really, but the fact that you got that dress in the maternity section definitely gives off the impression."

"How did you know that I found this dress in the maternity section?"

Barry gave her a look, "Seriously Iris? You're still doubting me?"

"Whatever." Iris grumbled before shutting the door so that she can try on another dress.

"You know, you never told me where you guys are going for dinner." Barry reminded.

"Oh yeah. Eddie's parents somehow managed to get a dinner reservation at Grey's. How they managed to swing a reservation for 7 people at Central City's classiest restaurant, I'll never know." Iris told him.

Barry's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, "Wait, did you just say 7 people? It's going to be Eddie, his parents, his two siblings, and you. That's 6 people, not 7."

Iris chuckled nervously, "Yeah, about that…"

"Iris…" Barry warned.

"Well, his family really wanted to meet my family at the dinner, but you know, Dad had some case files to wrap up, and then Eddie let it slip that you were practically family, so they invited you to dinner, and I couldn't think of an excuse to say no." Iris admitted, talking at lightning speed.

"Iris!" Barry exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Bear! But I need you there!"

Barry sighed, "Ugh… Fine, I'll go!" He never could say no to her.

"Thanks Bear! You're the best! Now, what do you think of this dress?" She said, opening the door once more.

Examining the knee length, strapless red dress, Barry couldn't help but smile, "Perfect."

"Great! Now I just have to find some matching shoes!"

Barry groaned in response.

* * *

Barry was running late. Typical.

He was supposed to meet everyone at the restaurant at 7:30, but by the time he arrived it was already 8:00. How he still managed to be late, even with super speed, he would never know.

Fixing his hair, and adjusting his red tie, he walked into the restaurant. Approaching the hostess, Barry gave her a charming smile, "Hello, I'm here with the Thawne party."

"Right on time Allen." Barry heard someone say behind him. Turning around, he saw Eddie, Iris, and the rest of whom he assumed was the Thawne family. They were all dressed to impress, and he was pretty sure he could make out a few designer brands.

"I'm actually surprised that you arrived before us." Eddie admitted.

At seeing Iris's chuckle, Barry realized that Iris gave him the wrong time on purpose, so that he could actually be on time for once.

"Of course I'm on time. I would despise being late to something as important as this dinner." Barry stated.

"Thawne family? This way please." The hostess said, leading them to their round table. Barry took his seat in between Iris, and Eddie's sister.

"Let me introduce you guys. Barry, please meet my family. These are my parents, Darren and Jessica, and these are my siblings, Lucy and Chris. Guys, this is Iris's best friend, Barry." Eddie said, introducing everyone.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Barry said politely. Mr. and Mrs. Thawne were impeccably dressed, and they held themselves in a sophisticated and professional matter. Eddie's siblings were the same. All in all, they all looked quite stiff. The women wore expensive jewelry, and the men had on expensive suits.

"It's lovely to meet you as well Mr. Allen." Mrs. Thawne said.

"Please, it's Barry." He corrected.

"Very well Barry, what is it that you do for a living?" Mr. Thawne asked.

"I'm a crime scene investigator for the CCPD. A forensic scientist of sorts."

Barry caught Mrs. Thawne rolling her eyes discretely.

"Law enforcement, of course." Chris scoffed.

"There's nothing wrong with Law Enforcement." Eddie argued.

"Maybe for you." Mrs. Thawne said quietly, and rudely. Both Iris and Barry couldn't help but feel insulted.

"Can we not get into this right now? Let's just enjoy the dinner without any arguments." Eddie said, giving up.

"So Iris, you're a journalist?" Lucy asked, changing the topic.

"Yes, I am. I've always loved to write." Iris admitted with a smile.

"I read your work, you seem particularly interested in the Flash." Mr. Thawne stated.

"I am. The Flash is Central City's hero. He saved my life more times then I can count." Iris answered.

"What made you decide to go into journalism?" Chris asked.

"Actually, it was Barry who convinced me to do so. He said journalism was where all the fun was at."

"Certainly Mr. Allen realized that there was no money or glory in journalism?" Mrs. Thawne inquired.

"Money was never a factor." Barry answered coolly. He was used to these types of comments.

"It certainly wasn't a factor when you decided on your career." Mrs. Thawne pointed out.

"We have a saying from where I come from, 'L'argent ne fait pas le bonheur'" Barry replied.

"Money can't buy happiness." Mr. Thawne translated.

"You speak French?" Mrs. Thawne asked.

"Since when?" Eddie wondered.

Barry smirked, "I was raised in Paris. It was there I realized the validity of that statement."

"Well, money may not buy happiness, but it certainly makes your life easier." Mrs. Thawne reminded.

"True, however money was never an issue for me personally." Barry revealed.

"Why not?" Chris asked.

"Have you ever heard of the Smythe family?" Barry asked innocently.

"Of course. Richard and Hannah Smythe are French Billionaires. They own a multitude of companies all over Europe. Why?" Mr. Thawne inquired.

"My full name is Bartholomew Sebastian Smythe Allen. I'm the only living relative of the Smythe family, and the sole heir." He admitted.

The entire Thawne family looked shocked, especially Eddie. He had no idea that his friend was rich. Iris just smirked slightly. She's known for a while now that Barry was a Smythe, although she didn't find out until Barry moved to Paris during their sophomore year of high school. Barry never did like advertising his wealth, so Iris respected his privacy and never told anyone about it.

There were a few moments of silence before Mrs. Thawne asked kindly, "Have you ever been to the Louvre?"

Barry smiled, "Of course."

Safe to say, the rest of the dinner went without a hitch.

* * *

The next morning, Iris swung by the West household for the weekly Sunday breakfast.

"You know, Eddie told me that his parents really liked me." Iris informed Barry.

"Of course they did. I told you they would." Barry replied smugly.

"It's all thanks to you." She admitted.

"Nah, I just helped move the conversation along."

"You know, you never did tell me that you were the sole heir of the Smythe family fortune." Iris declared.

"It never came up." Barry answered.

"Suurreee…" Iris said, not quite believing him.

"What? It's the truth!" Barry exclaimed.

"Sure it is. I have to ask, do you also have a trust fund?" She teased.

"Maybe, maybe not." Barry answered jokingly.

"You know, that actually explains a lot! I was wondering how you were able to afford all of those designer brands! Hummel is a really expensive brand after all, and your closet seems to be full of it!"

"What if I told you that it's only because I'm best friends with Kurt Hummel, and I was actually the Best Man at his wedding? Although, technically I was Blaine's Best Man, but whatever." Barry teased

"Oh sure. Next you're going to tell me that you're a super model. Or maybe you'll tell me that you also happen to be friends with Mercedes Jones?" Iris joked.

"Actually, I am a super model. And I do happen to be friends with Mercedes, but we really aren't all that close. We're mostly friends through association, since I'm close to Blaine and Kurt." Barry admitted with a smirk, knowing that Iris didn't believe him.

"Ok Barry. You know, if you want to lie to me, at least make it somewhat believable." She teased, before getting off the coach and into the kitchen.

Under his breathe, Barry mumbled, "I didn't lie. But that reminds me, I should probably call Kurt to thank him for this suit. "


	16. Dark Side

It was a Friday night when Barry found himself in a bar. Back when he was Sebastian, there wasn't a single day when he wasn't frequenting some type of bar. Of course, now he couldn't get drunk, which took half the fun out of it. But nonetheless, bars were always a fun place for him. They reminded him of his other side, which nowadays he barely remembers.

Today, he decided to go a karaoke bar on the other side of Central City. He was wearing a black V-neck, and dark blue jeans. Currently, he was leaning on the bar, sipping his Courvoisier while watching the train wreck on stage. Seriously, Barry didn't care how drunk these idiots were, they shouldn't be allowed within 10 feet of a microphone.

Barry subconsciously cringed as the man on stage wailed a horrendous note. He heard someone laugh right next to him.

"Whatever happened to real talent?" Said a familiar voice.

Turning to see who it was, Barry exclaimed, "Dave Karofsky! My man! Long time no see!"

Laughing and giving each other a huge hug, Dave answers, "I know! It's been a while. I haven't seen you since the Klaine wedding."

"It's a shame, we really do need to hang out more. What brings you to Central City?" Barry asks.

"Actually, I'm here with my fiancé. We're visiting some of his family." Dave revealed shyly.

"You're getting married!?" Barry cried.

"Yeah, I am. I guess I finally found that special somebody to settle down with."

"I'm really happy for you. If anybody deserves a happy ending, it's you." Barry admitted with a smile.

"It's all thanks to you. If you didn't intervene, I would never have been confident enough to ask Andrew out on a date. You taught me everything I know, and I'll always be grateful for that." Dave told him honestly.

"Well, I live to help." Barry joked with a smirk, easily slipping into his Sebastian Smythe persona.

"How about you Sebastian? Did you get your happy ending yet? Or are you still chasing everything with a pulse?" Dave teased.

"Ok, first of all, I don't chase, I am the one being chased. Secondly, I'm only 25, let me enjoy my youth old man." Barry joked.

"You do realize I'm only a year older than you, right?" Dave stated.

"I don't see your point. But anyways, do I get to meet this mysterious fiancé of yours?" Barry asked.

"He's actually not here. Our hotel is across the street, and I was in the mood for a drink, so I came alone." Dave admitted.

Barry laughed loudly, "Time really does repeat. Just a few years ago, you and I were in Scandals, picking up guys. Well, you were picking up guys while I was deflecting them towards you."

"Seems like just yesterday. Except the fact that we were both classified as 'villains'." Dave pointed out.

"Oh come on Dave, we both know you were never as bad as me." Barry told him.

"You never physically assaulted anybody."

"Shall I remind you of Blaine's eye surgery?" Barry reminded his friend.

"Yeah, but everyone knew it was an accident. That's why nobody ever pressed charges. What I did, I intended to do so. I physically harmed Kurt, all because I liked him, and I was jealous of the fact that he was able to act like himself, while I was stuck in the closet. I was a horrible person Sebastian, I never did forgive myself." Dave revealed.

"You shouldn't dwell on it Dave. Take it from someone who blinded his best friend, beating yourself up doesn't change anything. No, what helps is using all of the pain and anger you caused to help make you a better person. After all, when we first met, did you ever think that I would become best friends with New Directions?"

"No, but then again you never intended to hurt anyone."

"That's where you're wrong. I may not have intended to blind Blaine, but I sure as hell did try to annoy Kurt, blackmail Rachel, and antagonize Santana. Yet, those four people that I hurt the most, are the four people I'm the closest to now. I moved on, and I embraced my mistakes, that way I was able to learn from them. Kurt forgave you along time ago; as did everyone else you have ever hurt. You changed Dave, and that's what matters."

"I just don't know how to move on from all of the mistakes I have made. Sure, I know that I was young, and stupid, and still in high school, but it doesn't change how wrong it was. I feel like there's some type of evil in me, one that I can't get rid of. You wouldn't understand." Dave sighs.

Barry stares at him incredulously before exclaiming, "You do realize who you're taking to right? I'm Sebastian Smythe! The supreme leader of all Super Villains. Captain of the notoriously preppy Warblers. If anybody here is evil, it's me. But being a villain isn't something to be afraid of Yogi Bear. Everybody has a dark side. And with that, I'm going to stop that disgusting screeching that man calls singing. Want to join me?"

Dave chuckles, "Thanks Sebastian, but I'm going to sit this one out. You were always the talented one."

"Suit yourself." And with that, Barry walks over to the stage. Whispering a song into the DJ's ear, he takes his place in front of the microphone.

"Hey guys! My name is Sebastian Smythe, and this song is dedicated to my good old friend, Bear Cub. It's to show that there is nothing wrong with having a little evil in you." Barry announced into the microphone. As soon as the opening notes of the song began, Dave started to laugh.

Taking the lead that was previously Blaine's, Barry easily adjusted to the song. Everyone in the bar was on there feet, cheering for him. When the chorus came up, Barry took the microphone off the stand and walked towards the front of the stage, staring at Karofsky while he sang the lines.

_Everybody's got a dark side_

_Do you love me?_

_Can you love mine?_

_Nobody's a picture perfect_

_But we're worth it_

_You know that we're worth it_

_Will you love me?_

_Even with my dark side?_

For the rest of the song, Barry danced across the stage, not missing a beat. All of his Warbler practice came into full swing, it was as if Barry had never left the stage to begin with. The crowd was going wild, as he poured his soul into the song that brought him so many memories.

When he finished the song, he left the stage, and returned to the bar. Karofsky grabbed Barry into a huge hug, and whispered into his ear, "Thank you."

Releasing himself from the hug, Barry replied, "It's no problem. Everyone has a dark side Dave, especially me. So if you ever feel alone, like nobody understands what you're going through, just remember that I'm more screwed up than you, and I'm only a phone call away."

"Thank you Sebastian."

"Plus, you have to acknowledge the evil part of you if you want to join my Super Villain club." Barry stated.

"Super Villain club?" Dave asked.

"Yeah, sometime during my senior year, the New Directions made a superhero club. They had costumes, alter egos, and everything. So, I decided to make my own club of super villains. We even have our own private group chat." Barry explained humorously.

"Really? And who is part of this club?" Dave asked with a smile.

"Well, I'm the President of course. My Vice President is my figurative twin, Jesse St James, and the other members are Noah Puckerman, Hunter Clarington, and of course Santana Lopez. We are, after all, the original Ohio Bad Asses." Barry explained with a smirk. He found it quite ironic how he was both the President of a Super Villain club, and The Flash.

"And what are your Villain names?" Dave inquired.

"Well, Santana is 'Queen Bitch', or 'QB' for short. Puckerman is 'Bad Ass Stud'. Hunter is 'Captain Muscles'. Jesse is 'Broadway Devil'. I'm 'Seductive Demon'. And together, we are 'The Sexy Villains'." Barry announced.

For the next five minutes, Dave was crying with laughter. Pretty soon, Barry joined him, and the two laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

"So what do you think?" Barry asked.

"All the names are definitely fitting." Dave admitted.

"So what would your super villain name be?"

Dave pondered for a while before giving him an answer, "Killer Bear."

Barry gave him a large, yet evil smirk, "Welcome to the Dark Side."

That night, when David went back to his hotel room, he checked his phone, only to see he was added to a new group chat entitled, "The Sexy Villains".


	17. Philanthropist

Barry was lying on the couch is his/Joe's living room, watching Les Miserables for the hundredth time, obviously singing along perfectly to every song. He remembered back when the Warblers used to have musical marathons every 3rd Friday of the month. They were a big deal back in Dalton, and pretty soon, Barry was able to convince his friends at New Directions to join them.

He was just getting to one of his favorite songs, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, when his phone began to ring.

Annoyed that his musical marathon was being interrupted, he paused the movie, and answered the phone with a barking tone that his alter ego Sebastian would be quite proud of, "What!"

"Geez Barry, what's got you all wound up?" He heard Oliver ask.

Groaning, he replied, "Nothing. What's up Ollie?"

He could practically hear Oliver roll his eyes at the use of his nickname, "I need your help. How fast can you get down to Starling City?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

"Don't get smarmy with me kid. Just hurry up."

"Sir yes sir!" And with that, Barry hung up the phone, and sped towards Star Labs to inform his team about their new mission in Starling.

After making Caitlyn and Cisco promise to not get into too much trouble while he was away, Barry changed into his Flash uniform, and sped towards the Arrow Cave. In 2 minutes, Barry arrived, along with a plate of sushi.

"What is it with you and sushi?" Diggle asked as soon as he noticed Barry's presence.

"I like sushi." Barry stated, shrugging.

"You sure took your time getting here." Oliver pointed out, jumping from his spot on the salmon ladder.

"I got off the phone with you 3 minutes ago." Barry reminded him.

"Yeah, but I thought you were faster than that. Huh, turns out I was wrong." Oliver teased his friend.

Resisting the urge to attack Oliver, or even worse, unleash upon him Sebastian, Barry plopped down on Felicity's usual seat, and finished eating his sushi.

Hearing the familiar click of heels, Barry looked up to see Felicity approaching the rest of the team, "Hey Barry! What are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure myself." Barry admitted, looking towards Oliver, who began to explain the reason he phoned Barry.

"A few days ago, an old acquaintance of mine from my pre-island days, Gabe Tucker, stole a priceless painting from Starling Museum. It's our job to get it back."

Barry looked quite skeptical as he asked, "Since when does the Arrow recover stolen paintings?"

Oliver looked irritated as he answered, " Gabe is an old rival, and Starling Museum was largely funded by the Queen's. This is personal."

"Alright, art thief, sounds fun! But why do you need me?" Barry questioned.

"Gabe is having his yearly charity gala tonight at his house. I'm pretty sure he's keeping the painting in his office. The problem is, he has too many guards outside his home, so the best chance we have is if we attend the party itself as guests. Usually, I could do this sort of mission alone, but the thing is, I'm not fast enough to find the painting, and get out of the household without alerting the guards. Plus, Gabe and I didn't end on the best of terms, so I doubt I would be allowed anywhere near that party. This has to be a stealth mission, if Gabe has any suspicions that someone is on to him, he'll move the painting and hide. We can't have that. You're the only one that could do it fast enough." Oliver explained.

"So, let me make sure I got this right. I have to attend the party as a guest, sneak into his office, find the painting and get out before anyone realizes what happened?" Barry clarifies.

"Pretty much." Oliver confirms.

"Sounds fun. But how would I get on the guest list?"

Felicity then interrupts, "I presume that's where I come in. Most guest lists are made digitally, so that the host can make sure all the front guards have a copy. All I have to do is hack in."

"Felicity is right. But that's not the hardest part." Oliver said.

"Then what is?" Barry asked.

"The hardest part is looking like you belong at a charity gala with a bunch of billionaires." Oliver explained.

Barry scoffed, "Trust me, that won't be a problem for me."

"Why wouldn't it be a problem for you?" Felicity questioned.

"I don't think you understand Barry, these people sniff out the difference between the upper and lower classes like a shark in a pool of blood. You're really going to have to act the part convincingly." Oliver stated.

"And like I said, it won't be a problem." Barry assured.

"Barry is way too nice to pull this off." Diggle stated.

"Geez! Do you people have no faith in me? Relax, I'll be fine." Barry told them.

"If you're sure." Oliver said skeptically.

"I am. Now, when does this party start?" Barry asked.

"It's not a party, it's a gala. And that's exactly the kind of thing that's going to make people question you're appearance!" Oliver pointed out.

"Whatever. When does this _gala _start?" Barry asked, stressing the word 'gala'.

"Eight." Oliver answered.

"Well, I better go get ready. Meet you guys back here in an hour." And before anyone could get another word in, Barry sped away.

"We're absolutely screwed." Oliver stated.

* * *

An hour later, as promised, Barry sped back into the Arrow Cave. This time, he wore an expensive Armani black suit, along with a gold watch that cost more than his yearly paycheck at CCPD. His hair was jelled up, similar to the way he wore it in his junior year of High School.

"Looking good Barry!" Felicity exclaimed after giving him a quick once over.

"Why thank you." Barry replied with a smirk, as he fixed his tie.

"Seriously Barry, you look hot, like really good, like super good, like all types of sexy..." Felicity rambled, soaking in Barry's appearance.

"He get's it Felicity." Oliver interrupted with a growl.

"Not bad kid, you clean up nice." Diggle complimented.

"Thanks Digg."

"How'd you afford that outfit?" Felicity asked.

"I told you guys earlier, fitting in with these people isn't going to be a new experience." And with that mysterious comment from Barry, Oliver sighed and made his way towards him.

"I hate that I have to leave this to you, but what'd done is done. Here's your earpiece, do not, under any circumstance, take it out. I'm going to try to give you tips on dealing with everyone from here." Oliver said, handing over the earpiece.

Placing the piece in his ear, Barry replied, "Wow man, you really have no faith in me. Whatever, you'll see later on that I'll be fine without your unnecessary babying."

Sighing, Oliver turned his attention towards Felicity, "Did you add him to the guest list yet?"

"I knew I forgot something! One second." Felicity realized, before grabbing her tablet, and hacking into the database.

"Hey Felicity, can you do me a favor?" Barry asked.

"Sure, what do you need?" Felicity replied.

"Put my name as Sebastian Smythe."

"Why?" Felicity asked.

"I don't want anyone to look me up as Barry Allen, and finding out that I really didn't belong at the party. There could be ugly repercussions." He explained.

"You do realize that they check ID, right?" Diggle told him.

"Yes, I do." Barry said cryptically. Mumbling something about "Plausible deniability", Felicity added the name Sebastian Smythe to the guest list.

"Remember the trick is to act charming, but smarmy. Nice, but with a biting undertone. Humble, yet obviously snobby." Oliver informed his friend.

"You're full of oxymoron's today, aren't you?" Barry teased.

"Barry, this is serious!" Oliver cried out exasperated.

Barry just laughed in response.

"You're officially on the guest list, or should I say, Sebastian Smythe is." Felicity informed him, looking up from her tablet.

"Thanks Felicity. Well, I better head out. It's a long drive." Barry said.

"Drive?" Oliver questioned.

"What, you think showing up on foot to a charity gala is a better idea?" Barry asked sarcastically.

Oliver kept his mouth shut, realizing his mistake.

"Well, later guys. Try not to distract me too much." And with a final cheeky smile, Barry sped away towards the car he just purchased. It was the most expensive and impressive he could find on such sort notice.

"Thank you trust fund." Barry said under his breath as he got into the car.

"Did you say something Barry?" He heard Felicity ask through the Comms.

"Nope, nothing at all." Barry lied.

"Hurry up Barry, you have the tendency to be late, even with your super speed." Oliver reminded him.

"Shut it Ollie, at least I don't shoot my friends in the back."

"Are you still not over that?" Oliver said incredulously.

"How about I shoot you twice in the back with arrows, and we can see how fast you'll get over it?" Barry suggested maliciously.

"Barry, just drive." Diggle reminded his younger friend.

"Spoilsport." Barry grumbled.

* * *

Arriving at the Tucker Mansion, Barry parked his car, and approached the front door.

Reaching the first security guard, Barry slipped on his smirk before stating his name, "Sebastian Smythe."

"ID?" The guard asked.

Once the guard checked the validity of Barry's French ID, he patted him down, and let him through to the party.

"Central City's Scarlet Speedster has a fake ID. How heroic." He heard Diggle state.

Barry smirked in response. He absolutely love taking advantage of his dual citizenship, and his families influence. In America, for all legal purposes, his full name was Bartholomew Sebastian Smythe Allen. But in France, it was only Sebastian Smythe, allowing him to have a completely legal and government issued French ID. He didn't tell the team this of course.

"Remember Barry, avoid Gabe Tucker at all costs. If he sees you, he'll know something is up. He personally wrote the guest list." Oliver reminded him.

As he walked into the gala, he noticed it was in full swing. Multiple people dressed in only the most expensive of clothes and jewels were conversing in mild, yet condescending tones. Many people around him were talking about "How great of a cause this charity is." But Barry soon realized that no one really did know what the cause was. Barry scoffed, these people would do anything to show their friends that they had more money, including donating an obscene amount of money to an unknown cause.

In an effort to not look completely out of place, Barry grabbed a glass of wine from a waiter, and approached a random group of older gentlemen.

"I am telling all of you, it is impossible to decide where to go on the annual family vacation. No one seems to agree on one place. The children say Hawaii, the wife says Fiji." A man in a navy blue suit says to his friends.

"I say, forgo all of those ideas and go to Vegas. That's where the real fun is." A man wearing a gray suit replies.

"This is a family vacation Thomas, not a bachelor party." The man in navy blue reminds his friend in gray, who Barry now knew as Thomas.

"Charlie has a point. I for one think Athens would be more practical." The third man, in a red overcoat tells them.

"I for one used to winter in Bali, along with one of my closest friends. It's the perfect vacation spot." Barry, or now Sebastian, tells them.

"That's actually not a bad idea." The one in navy blue, Charlie, says to Sebastian.

"You wintered in Bali?" Questioned Thomas.

"Yes, my friend Jesse and I were impartial to the cold winters in New York, so we joined his parents in Bali instead." Sebastian explained.

"What a load of bull." He hears Diggle mutter through his earpiece. He takes a sip of wine to stifle his laughter. If only he knew how truthful he was actually being.

"You're a New Yorker then? How come I haven't seen you in any of the parties up there?" Thomas assumed.

"That must be due to the fact that I only attended college in New York. I'm actually Parisian."

"A Frenchman then. You certainly have the confidence of one." Charlie admitted.

Sebastian smirked, "Alas, I do not know if my over confidence is due to the fact of growing up in a city such as Paris, or if it due to the fact that my parents have subjected me to these very galas my entire life."

"Well these galas certainly have the tendency to change people, whether it is for better or worse, I have yet to decide." Thomas stated with a smile.

"You are a trust fund kid then?" The one in the red overcoat asked.

"In a way. However most of my fund goes towards charities such as these, or are invested in stocks." Sebastian revealed.

"Not bad kid. You sound both rich and humble." Oliver said through the comms.

"A smart plan." Charlie complemented.

"I'm sorry, we didn't catch your name." Thomas said.

"Sebastian Smythe." He introduces with a smirk and a firm handshake.

"Charlie." The one in navy blue says.

"Thomas." Says the one in gray.

"Douglas." The one in the red overcoat introduces.

It was then a woman interrupts them, putting her hand on Douglas's arm, "Douglas darling, who is your new friend?"

"Darling, this is Sebastian Smythe, a fellow philanthropist. Sebastian, meet my wife Mary." Douglas says introducing the two.

Bringing her hand towards his lips, and kissing it, Sebastian says charmingly with his usual smirk in place, "Lovely to meet you Mary. May I say, you look absolutely stunning. The dress is an original Hummel, is it not?"

Mary blushed slightly, "Why thank you Mr. Smythe, you flatter me. And yes it is, you have an eye for fashion I see."

"It's nothing like that. I just recognize the dress." He says.

Wearing a confused look, Mary questions, "How is that possible? This dress hasn't come out yet, I made sure to order it weeks before it was released to the general public."

Sebastian laughed before explaining, "You see, despite what he lets the world believe, Kurt is extremely self conscience, especially about his designs. So without fail, he sends it to me for approval before releasing it, knowing that I have experience with design."

"You are friends with Kurt Hummel?" Mary asked shocked.

"Yes, Kurt and I are old friends from High School. We met through his now husband, Blaine Anderson." Sebastian revealed, smirk still in place.

"A Billionaire French Philanthropist who happens to be friends with Hollywood's biggest gay couple. My my, aren't you the cultured one?" Charlie stated.

"They're seriously buying this bull?" Diggle asked incredulously.

Ignoring Diggle completely, Sebastian replied, "Well when you put it like that, you only serve to add to my ever growing ego."

"Oh hush! You're the most humble man here!" Mary assured him.

"One may only hope." Sebastian joked.

"Not to mention the most attractive bachelor here. If my daughter were here, I would be busy trying to convince you to take her out on a date. You definitely bring a new meaning to the word 'sexy'." Mary added.

"Oh stop, you're making me blush." Replied Sebastian with a cocky smirk.

"And here they go adding to Barry's already inflated ego." Oliver mumbled.

"It's not like she's wrong." Felicity stated absentmindedly.

"Felicity!" Oliver exclaimed.

"What? I give credit when credit is due. And Barry's charming ways and over all sexiness definitely deserves credit." Felicity pointed out.

Sebastian's smirk only grew as he heard Felicity compliment him. He could practically hear Oliver's annoyance and jealousy, which amused him greatly.

It was then that he noticed Gabe Tucker's recent appearance to the gala. This was the perfect moment to complete his mission.

Reaching over to grab another cup of wine from a passing waiter, he 'accidently' tipped the cup, spilling the drink all over his suit.

"My, I'm such a klutz. If you all would excuse me." Sebastian said to the group.

"Of course, please." Mary replied.

With one last smile, Sebastian made his way towards the bathroom, which was conveniently placed near the stairs leading up to the office. Making sure no one was looking, Barry sped up the stairs.

Hacking the security system, Felicity informed him that he had only 30 seconds to get the painting and get out, before the alarm was back on.

It took 24 seconds for him to find the painting, which was hidden behind a less conspicuous painting. He sped out of the office, and down the stairs, with only 3 seconds to spare.

He then snuck out of the back door, and departed the gala, but not before anonymously donating a check to the charity, which he later found out was for orphanages across America.

Dropping his new car at a random garage, Barry sped to the Arrow Cave once more.

"One stolen painting, retrieved!" Barry announced, painting in hand.

"Great job kid." Diggle stated.

"Yeah Barry! You charmed the pants off of those snobs. And when I say you charmed the 'pants off them' I don't mean literally, obviously." Felicity rambled.

"Obviously. So, you think I'm sexy?" Barry asked with a smirk.

"Hey, credit when credit is due." Felicity says with her hands raised, releasing herself from all implications.

"How'd you know how to handle them? It took me years of being dragged to these types of galas to learn how to charm the upper class." Oliver asked.

"Didn't you hear? I'm a French Billionaire Philanthropist with a lot of famous friends, and great vacation spots." Barry teased, knowing that Oliver won't believe him, despite telling the truth.

"Fine, whatever. Don't tell me." Oliver said, rolling his eyes.

* * *

The next day, the painting was returned to Starling Museum, Gabe Tucker was arrested for grand robbery after a multitude of evidence implicating him turned up mysteriously, and all traces of Sebastian Smythe ever being at the gala was erased.


	18. The Captain

Barry was standing next to the coffee machine in the lobby of the CCPD, pouring himself a cup of (horrible) coffee, when Captain Singh approached him.

"I looked up your personal file, you know." Singh told Barry.

"Yes, I assume you did. After all, you had to have done a background check on me when you hired me." Barry answered, not knowing where his boss was going with this.

"You're right. When I hired you, I did do a background check. But I neglected to look at anything before you received your bachelor's degree. After all, you did graduate top of your class at Colombia University in New York, I thought that spoke of itself. Now, imagine my surprise when I looked you up again, and this time went deeper, past your graduation." Singh informed him.

"And what did you find?" Barry asked nervously.

"That's the crazy part. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not where you went to high school, not any old addresses, not anything. It's almost as if between the age of 16 to 22, Barry Allen didn't even exist."

"Is that so?"

"Quite so. It was until I remembered something. Back when you had lunch with my fiancé and I, Isabel called you 'Sebastian Smythe'. So I looked that name up." Singh admitted.

"Look, I can explain…"

"You don't have to." Singh interrupted, "Everyone has a past Allen, you're not exempt from that. I'm just surprised that the 'son' of a billionaire is working for me."

Barry gave a good hearted laugh, "Why do you think I've never complained about my salary?"

"Too true. You don't have to do so now, but someday I do want the full story behind 'Sebastian Smythe'. The only thing I have gathered so far about you is that you're some rich musical prodigy with a penchant for leather jackets and blazers. Well, that, and you always seem to find yourself as the subject of Blaine Anderson's tweets." Singh told him.

Barry took a sip of stale coffee before answering, "Yeah, Kurt is always complaining about the fact that his husband tweets about me more than him. And I'll tell you the story someday, but I must warn you, it's quite the story."

"I'm sure it is. After all, it has to explain why girls flock to you like a bee to a flower."

Barry laughed, "No, that all has to do with my astonishing good looks, and perfect charm."

"I'm guessing Sebastian is the cocky side of you?" Singh assumed.

"Pretty much."

"Well, do me a favor and keep Sebastian at home. We don't need your ego here at the precinct."

"Sounds fair enough."

"It's obvious you don't want people to know about Sebastian. I'll honor your wishes, and not tell anybody. But may I ask, just how many people know about your alter ego"

Barry sighed, "Honestly? Only people that I went to high school with, no one who lives in Central knows about Sebastian."

Singh looked shocked, "Not even Joe and Iris?"

Barry shook his head, "No, not even them. Like I said, I told no one about what happened. After I moved to Paris when I was 16, I became a completely different person. I changed my name, my look, my personality, hell, even my prime language. Before, I used to be bullied, thrown into lockers when Iris wasn't around to stop them. I was forced to pick up the habit of wearing long sleeves in the summer, so that I could hide my bruises from my family. I never did want them to worry.

One day, after I received a particularly brutal beating, my Uncle Richard called to check in on me. He heard me wince in pain as I raised the phone to my ear, and he forced me to confess what had happened. A week later, I was on a first class seat to Paris. To this day, Iris and Joe don't know the real reason of my sudden move, since I used the excuse that I missed my Aunt and Uncle.

When I arrived in France, I decided that I would never let anybody bully me ever again. I was determined to make the best out of my life, and live like a king for the remainder of high school. So I did what any kid in my situation would do, I became a rich gay prick."

"I'm sorry, did you just say gay?" Singh asked incredulously.

Barry laughed at the look on the Captains face before saying, "I only stayed in Paris for a few months. After that, I ended up moving to Ohio, where I attended an all male Prep School. Pretending to be gay not only brought drama in my life, making my life much more exciting, but protected me, sort of like a barrier. As Sebastian, the crowds of people will part as I walked down the hall. People would be afraid to look me in the eye. I was mean and cruel, I took no prisoners. I was the typical Prep School Bad Boy."

"So that explains the videos of you on YouTube singing in a uniform." Singh realized.

Barry groaned in slight embarrassment, "You found those?"

"Yup! Now that brought _me _great amusement. You're just lucky I swore to keep your secret, otherwise those videos would be circulating the CCPD as we speak."

"It's times like these when I'm glad I'm on your side."

"For now. Now get back to work before I change my mind." Singh threatened.

"Yes sir!" And with that, Barry went back up the stairs towards his lab.

* * *

A few days later, Barry found himself hanging out with Caitlyn and Cisco at Star Labs.

"Why can't the two of you just decide on a movie already?" Barry asked. It was their monthly movie night, the popcorn was already made, yet they just couldn't seem to agree on a movie to watch.

"Because there is no way I'm watching The Prince and Me… Again." Cisco stated, with a glare directed at Caitlyn.

"And there's no way I'm watching Insidious, not after the last time you made us watch a horror movie." Caitlyn retorted.

"Why can't I choose one?" Barry questioned.

This time, Cisco directed his glare at Barry, "Because last time you chose a movie, we somehow got roped into watching Breakfast at Tiffanies, with you reciting. Every. Single. Line. So now, your opinion is considered null and void."

Under his breathe, Barry muttered, "That movie is great. You can take the boy out of the Prep School…"

Cisco and Caitlyn just ignored him, as they continued to argue about what movie to pick.

Some time during the argument, Dr. Wells wheeled into the room, "The army is on their way to Star Labs."

With that one sentence, he had everyone's attention, "General Eiling again?" Caitlyn asked, worried about their safety.

"No no, don't worry. The army is just sending a representative to pick up a sample of the new vaccine Dr. Snow created. Apparently, it's been quite useful to soldiers over seas." Dr. Wells explained.

"Thank God." Cisco sighed, relieved.

"Here he comes right now." Caitlyn told everyone, as she checked the monitors.

The elevator doors opened, and a handsome man in a military uniform stepped out.

Dr. Wells approached the man, and shook his hand, "Hello Major Clarington, it is an honor to have you here." Pointing to everyone, Wells introduced them one by one, "This is our head of engineering, Cisco. This is Dr. Caitlyn Snow, the one who produced the vaccine. And this is…"

Dr. Wells was quickly interrupted by Major Clarington, who said with a serious face, "Captain Sexy."

With an equally serious face, Barry acknowledged, "Major Hotness."

The two kept staring at each other with serious faces, before they broke out into laughter, and hugged each other tightly.

"I missed you Bassy, you don't visit anymore!" Hunter complained, letting go of Barry, but keeping an arm around his shoulders.

"Aw, I knew you never could get enough of me Hunt. Is there no one else that could warm your bed at night?" Barry teased with a smirk and a wink.

"No one as flexible as you." Hunter replied with a smile, before laughing once more.

"What in the actual hell?" Cisco exclaimed, his jaw dropped to the floor.

It was then that Barry and Hunter remembered that they weren't alone. All three of Barry's friends looked downright shocked, not believing what was happening.

Hunter only tightened his arm around Barry shoulders before fake gasping, "Didn't Bassy tell you? I'm hurt. We did after all share a bed room for an entire year!"

"True, but we spent most of that year testing our endurance and flexibility." Barry added with a smirk.

"You always did give me quite the workout." Hunter said with a wink.

"What?" Cisco questioned once more, going slightly pale.

At that sight, Barry and Hunter died of laughter. "Don't worry guys, neither Barry or I are remotely Bi-Curious. We were roommates our Senior year of high school."

"Plus, we were both on the lacrosse team, so we spent most of our time together training. Since I was the Captain, I was in charge of warm ups, and running the plays. Hunter is just bitter because I was a little bit of a 'slave driver'." Barry explained, carefully leaving out anything that had to do with Glee Club.

"You were on the Lacrosse team? As the Captain no less? At least that explains his nickname for you." Caitlyn asked.

"Yeah, though I had no idea I was even good at it until I was 16. Trust me, it came as a surprise to me as well." Barry said.

"_You _were a 'slave driver'. I find that hard to believe." Cisco scoffed.

"Only a little bit." Barry reasoned.

"A little bit! Before I went to Dalton, I was in Military School, which was a walk in the park compared to Barry's training!" Hunter cried.

"And that's why we won State Championship twice in a row, and carried an undefeated record the entire time I was Captain, for the first time in Dalton history." Barry pointed out.

"Your methods might have been affective, but you were still a hard ass. Or do you not remember that time that Thad showed up to the game drunk?" Hunter asked.

Barry visibly darkened as he remembered. It was the day of an important game, and Thad showed up completely wasted. He was forced to sit out for the game, causing their entire game plan to change, and almost causing them to loose. Thankfully, Barry was always prepared with different plays to switch out in the last minute.

"First of all, Thad had what was coming to him. He almost cost us our winning streak. Plus, it was never proven that it was me!" Barry revealed.

Hunter sent him a questioning look, "Really? Who else do you know can hack into the school system, so that every time someone opened the schools website, they would come face to face with a video of a drunk Thad belly dancing on top of the library table to Shakira's 'Hips Don't Lie'?"

"No idea, but I commend whoever did it." Barry easily lied. "Plus, it did teach him to take practice and game days more seriously. No one ever showed up unprepared after that."

"You're insane." Hunter muttered, shaking his head.

"Wow Barry, you were kind of bad ass back in high school." Caitlyn said.

"I guess I had my moments." Both Barry and Hunter had to hide smirks at that wild underestimation.

"What time do you have to get back to base Major?" Dr. Wells asked.

"They don't expect me till tomorrow sir. And please, call me Hunter."

"Well Hunter, why don't you spend the evening with us? I'm sure you and Barry have a lot to catch up on, and we were about to begin our monthly movie night." Caitlyn invited.

"I'll be glad to, thanks." Hunter agreed with a smile.

"Any suggestions? We can't seem to agree on a movie." Caitlyn asked.

"What about Breakfast at Tiffanies?" Hunter suggested. Barry bit back a laugh as he took in the others expression.

"That's it! I officially give up on the two of you!" Cisco yelled.

10 minutes and one pointed gun later, the four of them settled down in the couches, as Barry and Hunter took turns reciting the lines from Breakfast at Tiffanies.


	19. Interregation

There were some days when Captain Singh really hated his job. Today was one of those days. He was walking angrily down the CCPD, yelling at anyone who made eye contact with him.

It all started when Joe and Eddie apprehended a violent criminal, suspected for murder. Well, suspected by the jury at least, since it was obvious to everyone that this man was definitely the murderer they were looking for. But they didn't have enough evidence to charge him.

His name is Wesley Myers, and he is a sick psycho. He murdered his wife, but all of the evidence that points towards him is circumstantial at best. There was no way the charge was going to stick without a confession.

They needed a confession. They needed a confession within the next 24 hours, or Wesley was to be let free. If he were let free, there's no doubt that he would escape the country as soon as possible.

Singh was one of the best integrators in the country, and along with Joe's help, the CCPD closed a multitude of cases with a criminals confession. So usually, this wouldn't be a problem, except that it was. Wesley happened to be one of the most stuck up, condescending, egotistical, evil, manipulative people he has ever had the misfortune of meeting.

Singh couldn't get two words in without getting interrupted, which obviously is now the cause of his horrifying mood. He had no idea how to get through to the guy; Wesley was obviously a great actor, with many barriers surrounding him. Singh couldn't figure him out.

It was with this in mind, that Singh approached the coffee machine. He needed an extra dose of caffeine if he were going to deal with this latest criminal. At the same time he was approaching, he saw Barry approach the coffee machine. It was watching him when Singh had a genius idea.

* * *

Barry was not having a good day. It started early this morning, when he slept through his alarm due to a late night. Then later, as he tried to cook eggs, he got a notification that a building was burning. One saved building and burned arm later, he arrived back home, only to find his eggs burned to a crisp. It was then he realized that he was late for work, and had to super speed to the precinct without breakfast.

And just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, Joe barged into his office to tell him that the criminal they have been after for the past 3 months refuses to confess, and they don't have the evidence to make a formal arrest. Needless to say, he was tired, sleepy, hungry, and just over all agitated.

The thing was, when Barry gets agitated, he tends to let his Sebastian side go unchecked, unleashing his bad attitude. So with a frown on his face, Barry made his way down to the coffee machine in order to get a much needed caffeine fix. After all, he was expected to work over time going over his work on the Wesley Myers case, making sure he didn't miss any crucial evidence.

When Barry arrived at the machine, he noticed a new rookie cop toying with it. Officer Peters, he believed his name was. New kid, who was around Barry's age, but has nowhere near his experience in terms of the CCPD. That made the kid both eager to please, and a complete pain in the neck. Usually Barry sympathized with him, and was nice to him. But today was just not Barry's day.

"What are you doing?" Barry asked Peters with an attitude.

"Uh, fixing the coffee machine?" Peters replied warily.

"And your idea of 'fixing it' is pushing all of the buttons randomly, hoping to make it work?" Barry questioned sarcastically.

"No. No of course not. I was actually-"

Barry rudely interrupted, "Look kid, as much as I love poorly made excuses from incompetent fools, I would like some coffee before I have to process another word that comes from your mouth. Talking to you tends to significantly lower my IQ."

"Excuse me?" Peters asked, confused that sweet Barry Allen was being mean.

"Oh I'm sorry, was I speaking too fast? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Really, they let in just about anyone into the police academy, now don't they?"

"I was one of the best candidates!" Peters exclaimed, now quite offended.

"I don't see why. You have pasty skin, unkempt hair, and a brain the size of the peanut. If you were 'one of the best candidates' then I fear for the human race."

"What?!"

"Let's not even get me started on your clumsiness. You'd think that the academy would teach you how to not loose papers, or you know, how to hold a gun right. Apparently not."

"I'll have you know-"

Barry once again interrupted him, "No seriously, are you sure you ever even attended college? Oh well, you're here now, so I guess I have to learn how to deal with you."

"But-"

"Are you going to stand there talking the entire time, or are you going to move so that I can actually fix the coffee machine?"

Flabbergasted, and beyond confused, Peters jaw dropped, and side stepped, allowing Barry access to the coffee machine.

"I would say thank you, but you didn't really do anything other than add to my ever growing headache, and make me waste 5 minutes of my time."

After a few seconds of pressing buttons, Barry got the coffee machine working again. Pouring himself a cup, he turned around, only to notice Captain Singh staring at him in shock.

"Can I help you Captain?" Barry asked, in a semi-polite tone. He was his boss after all.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this before!" Singh exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Wesley Myers."

"The one who murdered his wife? What about him?"

"He's an annoying, insufferable, narcissistic psychopath. Never lets you get a word in, so it's quite impossible to interrogate him."

"Ok, what does that have to do with me?" Barry asked.

"No, not you Mr. Allen. Sebastian Smythe on the other hand, will be quite useful. See, I neglected to realize, that the only person who could get through to someone as egotistical as Myers, was someone who was just as self-involved and cruel. Now, the only person I know that's more annoying than a killer, would be a playboy billionaire by the name of Smythe." Singh explained.

"You want me, an inexperienced CSI, to interrogate a criminal?"

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"I already went through the evidence 4 times today."

"Then talking to him surely wouldn't hurt."

"Fine, I'll do it. Just give me an hour or so to get ready." Barry agreed.

"Sure thing kid. But hurry back. Oh, and whenever you get in a better mood, apologize to Peters, I think you scared the boy."

"Whatever." And with that, Barry left the precinct.

* * *

An hour later, Barry once again entered the CCPD. His hair was styled the same as it had been in high school. He was wearing an expensive Armani blazer, along with a crisp white button up, and designer jeans. In his hand, he carried a cup of coffee (filled with Courvoisier of course).

He made his way straight to Captain Singh, who then quickly ushered him towards the interrogation room. Entering, he noticed a single table in the room. Myers was sitting down in a chair, his hands handcuffed to the table.

Barry silently took the seat in front of Myers, his mouth set in a smirk. He was now, completely, one hundred percent Sebastian. He gave his other side full reigns for this operation. He knew that behind the looking glass, both Singh and Joe were watching, but he couldn't care. Joe was probably furious, yelling at Singh for letting Barry in there with a dangerous criminal.

"You don't look like much." Sebastian stated simply, before leaning back, and quirking an eyebrow.

"That's what they all say." Myers replied with a smile, without a care in the world.

"Oh I'm sure they do. You're not very easy on the eyes."

"So, so the police now make their judgments based on ones physical appearance?"

"No. But then again, I'm not the police."

"Then who are you?"

"A man."

"And they call me uncooperative." Myers scoffed.

"I'm not the suspected criminal Mr. Myers. If I want to be uncooperative, then I sure as hell could be."

"Let me guess, you think I'm guilty too?" Myers mocked sarcastically.

"Oh absolutely. Guilty of a bad hair cut, guilty for awful hair care products, guilty for being a complete ass hole, guilty for marrying an ugly-"

Sebastian was quickly interrupted, "My wife is NOT ugly!" Myers exclaimed.

Sebastian's smirk grew. _So, his wife is what gets a rise out of him. Interesting… _

"_Was."_

"What?" Myers asked, trying to get a handle of his emotions.

"Your wife _was _not ugly. She's dead. You killed her, don't you remember?" Sebastian asked nonchalantly.

"I did not-"

Sebastian interrupted him, "Then again, I don't blame you. Hell, if I married someone as hideous as her, I would certainly think about it as well."

Myers was beginning to get angry, "I said, I didn't-"

Sebastian just carried on, uninterrupted, "Though, I don't think I could really do it. Kill her I mean. I pride myself for my courage, but even I don't have the guts to kill her, no matter how ugly she is."

"STOP CALLING HER UGLY!"

"Oh, but she is! Or would you rather have me not tell the truth. It's ok, I understand, some people prefer lies. Just like how some people prefer murdering. Tell me Mr. Myers, did she scream?"

"She-"

"Or was she more the silent type? I know the death wasn't a quick one, it had to be painful. But then again, you know that as well. After all, you were there."

"I wasn't-"

"There we go again with the denial! It's quite infuriating. You'd think that killing your ugly wife would make you less of a jerk."

"I'm not-"

"But maybe one death wasn't enough. Huh, I haven't thought about that. Maybe you're the type who likes to kill more than once."

"I don't-"

"Or do you just like killing your wives? Does that mean in order to kill again, you'd have to remarry?"

Mr. Myers was seething in rage, "I didn't-"

"Of course the woman would have to be ugly, after all, that is your type."

"MY WIFE WASN'T UGLY. IF SHE WERE, SHE WOULDN'T HAVE SLEPT WITH MY BROTHER, SO I NEVER WOULD HAVE KILLED HER!"

Sebastian felt a grin creep upon his face. Realizing what he said, Myers face dropped in horror, before he covered his mouth.

Calmly, Sebastian stood up and stated, "Thank you for your time. Have fun in prison."

"You. You tricked me!" Myers exclaimed.

"Ah, yes. Thank you for making it so easy." With that, Barry exited the room.

"He's all yours boys." Barry told the cops.

With a knowing smile, Singh went in to talk to Myers, while Joe just stood staring at Barry, shocked.

"What the hell kid? When did you learn how to interrogate?" Joe asked.

Barry smirked slightly before replying, "When you dorm for an entire year with a stubborn ex-military boy, you tend to learn a few things, like how to get said stubborn friend to tell you the truth about his steroid shots. Or how to find out which of your teammates didn't practice the previous night, when you stated quite clearly that they were to practice until they dropped like the worthless sacks of flour they really are."

Joe just stared at Barry. "I don't even want to know." And with that, Joe walked away, leaving Barry smiling at the memories of his time in Dalton.


	20. So Cold part 1

Life in Dalton Academy was easy. Everyone got along, there weren't too many crazy scandals, and life was pretty much great for Ohio's upper class. Dalton Academy was the epitome of peaceful tranquility, as long as every student and teacher remembered these two very important rules:

1\. Don't steal anyone's food from the common fridge

and

2\. Never, EVER, anger Sebastian Smythe

As long as these two rules were followed religiously, than everything would be fine. They are so important, that they were even posted and framed in Dalton Academy's Main Office. It is still there to this day. After all, no one wants a repeat of the actions from Sebastian's senior year.

The problem however, was that outside of Dalton Academy; no one was really made aware of the very important second rule. However, it wouldn't take people in Central City very long to realize just how important it is to keep Sebastian's temper in check. It takes a lot to anger Barry Allen, but once he reaches the limit, Sebastian Smythe comes out to play.

* * *

Barry Allen was having a good day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the new waitress at Jitters put an extra shot of Courvoisier in his coffee. For once, he found himself being early, so he decided to walk to work instead of running. As he leisurely strolled down the sidewalk, he hummed the tune of "Live while We're Young". It was then that he got the phone call.

Recognizing the number instantly, Barry smiled before answering, "Hey Nick, long time no talk. What's up?"

"Hey Bassy." Nick replied, his voice shaking.

Barry was instantly on alert. In a serious tone, he asked, "Nick, what happened? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Jeff on the other hand…"

"What happened?"

"He was walking home late last night, when some guys cornered him. It was a "mugging gone wrong" they said. Just a couple of guys who "went too far"."

"How far did it go?" Barry asked cautiously.

"We're in the hospital right now. He's sleeping at this moment. Doctor says he has 3 broken bones, a few fragments, and 2 deep lacerations. Is that bad? I'm not a Doctor Bassy, please tell me, is my best friend going to be OK?" Nick asked somewhat hysterically.

Barry sighed deeply, "Yeah, it's pretty bad. But he'll be ok."

"That's… good. I guess. I just hope he's ok."

"He will be. Just let him rest."

"Ok, I will. Thanks for everything Bassy."

"Anytime."

Once Barry hung up on Nick, he clenched his fist in anger. What kind of person would attack someone like Jeff, who was the funniest and kindest person he knew?

It was then that Barry made a silent vow: Whoever did this to Jeff, his ex-roommate and good friend, would pay. Severely.

* * *

Entering the CCPD, Barry quickly made his way into his lab. Logging onto the database, he checked for muggings that occurred last night in New York City that also ended in immediate hospitalization. It didn't take too long to find what he was looking for.

He was able to find the identities of the three attackers: Emmanuel Fray, Scott Franks, and Wilson Moores. All three were able to escape police custody, and all three have prior records. It wouldn't take to long to find them.

Now that he knew who was responsible behind the attack, all he had to do was decide what to do with them. It would be too suspicious if The Flash were to intervene, so that was out. At the same time, there wasn't much he could do as Barry Allen either. It was then that Barry had a stroke of genius. Smirking, he spent the rest of the day finalizing his plan. It took quite a few phone calls and favors to call in to make sure that his plan would go smoothly.

The first phone call: "Hey Uncle Richie, tell me, where is the family jet at this moment? Oh, it's still here in Central City? How convenient."

The second: "Hey Felicity, I need a favor. I know that you know about the whole 'Sebastian Smythe' thing. I mean, come on, you've always been the smart one. So I have this friend…"

The third: "Hey Killer. Did you hear about Jeff?"

The fourth: "Hello, this is Sebastian Smythe. I'd like to formally accept my invitation."

The fifth: "Hey Puckerman. So, I find myself in need of some extra protection. Mind helping out an old friend?"

The sixth: "Hey Lopez. I need a date, what do you say? It'll be like the old days."

* * *

That evening, Barry sped home to change his clothes. Dressing all in black, and in a way that made Sebastian proud, he made his way to a local bar that he found himself frequenting way too often for his liking.

As soon as he entered, his eyes darted around the entire bar. Finding the person he was looking for, he quickly made his way up to him, and slid into his booth.

"Barry! What can I do for you?" Leonard Snart asked in his usual condescending tone.

"Look Snart, I don't have time to waste, and I am certainly not in the mood. I need your assistance." Barry replied, in a no nonsense tone of voice.

"The Flash needs help from a cold villain such as myself? How peculiar. Color me intrigued."

"I'm not in the mood for your word games Snart. Are you going to help or not?"

"Well, however may I help you Mr. Allen?"

"Last night in New York, three thugs hospitalized my friend, and got away. I'm not about to let that slide."

"Why doesn't the Flash apprehend them?"

"And let people wonder why The Flash decided to randomly deal with three criminals in New York? No thanks. I can't do anything about it, but you can."

"You want revenge? How cold of you Barry, aren't you supposed to be the superhero?"

"Right now, I'm not the superhero, I'm the very pissed off and well connected friend of a guy that got hurt."

"Sure, I see why you need me, but why should I help? I don't owe you anything."

"You may not owe me anything, but trust me, helping me is in your best interest."

"Oh really? How so?"

"Let's just say that in order for my plan to work, you have to steal something. I may be willing to turn a blind eye, as long as everything goes down how I planned."

"You're willing to let me get away with stealing, so you may get revenge? Allen, dare I say, you would make a remarkable villain."

"I already was a villain, once upon a time. Tonight is merely me going back to my roots, for a short amount of time at least."

"You, Barry Allen, were a villain. How interesting."

"It's a long story. I'll tell it to you on the jet."

"The jet?"

"How do you expect us to get to New York? I can't carry you the entire way, I have super speed, not super strength."

"Where did you procure a jet?"

"It's all part of the story. You already know one of my alter ego's, you may as well know the other. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Smythe Family?" And with that, the two walked out of the bar.


	21. So Cold part 2

Leonard Snart was not a man that was easily surprised. He always made sure to think ahead, preparing for each and every possible outcome. However, that was before he met Barry Sebastian Smythe Allen.

Looking around the obviously expensive private jet, Snart reclined into his cushy seat, "Nice plane you've got here Smythe. If I knew how much money you had, I would have spent a lot more time trying to rob you then trying to stop the Flash."

Pouring champagne into his glass, Barry smirked, "Good luck trying to steal from me Snart. Despite me being a Smythe, I still am the fastest man alive."

"Unfortunately. So, you never did tell me this revenge plan you had. Your friend, Jeff was it, got hurt. What is the Scarlet Speedster going to do next?"

"All in good time Snart. I don't feel like repeating myself, so we will wait until everyone is gathered together before I explain."

"Everyone?" Snart inquired.

"What, did you believe that the two of us alone were going to get the revenge I need? No, a few friends of mine are going to help out as well. They also happen to be friends of Jeff's, so they pretty much insisted on helping out." Barry explained.

"Why do I have a feeling that these friends of yours are more annoying then you are?"

With a scheming smirk, Barry answered, "Because they are."

* * *

As soon as the plane touched down in New York City, a car was already waiting for them. As Barry climbed out of the jet, a genuine smile spread across his face.

"Hey killer, looking good."

Blaine blushed slightly before pulling his friend into a hug, "I missed you too Bassy."

"I wasn't aware you played for the other team Smythe." Snart commented as he too stepped out of the jet.

"He doesn't. Still doesn't stop him from trying to ruin my perfectly happy marriage, while simultaneously adding to my Husbands insecurities." Blaine corrected.

"Oh come on! Kurt needs a little blow to his ego every now and then. Other wise Lady Hummel will drive us all crazy with his self-righteous attitude." Barry explained.

"I resent that." A voice was heard coming from inside the car. Kurt Hummel, in all his fashion loving glory soon stepped out wearing a scowl.

"I see the meerkat arrived in one piece. Pity." Kurt remarked.

"Oh my God Kurt, I almost didn't recognize you. You were wearing boy clothes for once!" Barry declared dramatically.

"Oh hop off your high horse Smythe, and come give me a proper welcome." Kurt said while rolling his eyes.

Barry smiled as he went to go hug his long time friend and rival. "Looking good gay-face."

"You're not too bad yourself Smythe." Kurt admitted.

"As much as I would love to catch up, a certain someone is waiting for us. And she's not exactly the most patient person in the world." Blaine reminded everyone. With a nervous squeak, Kurt followed Blaine back into the car.

Snart put his hand on Barry's shoulder, and accused in a low voice, "Allen, when you said that your _good buddies _Blaine and Kurt were going to pick us up, you failed to mention that they were _the _Blaine and Kurt Hummel-Anderson."

"Oh did I not mention that? Huh, must have slipped my mind." With a final smirk at Snart, Barry followed his old friends into the car. Shaking his head at his temporary partner-in-crime's antics, Snart got into the car.

* * *

Arriving at his old apartment complex, Barry couldn't help but smile in nostalgia. Getting out of the car, he motioned for the rest of the men to follow him up. The doorman politely greeted him, and together they entered the elevator going up to the top floor.

As they waited in the elevator, Kurt remarked, "So you never did introduce us to your hot friend Barry. Worried I'll steal him from you?"

Leonard looked slightly uncomfortable as Barry busted out in laughter and introduced, "Guys, meet Leonard Snart. Thief exprodinare, and one of America's most wanted."

Blaine looked shocked, and began talking in a slow tone that suggested Barry had mental issues, "Bassy. Why are you bringing one of the most famous thieves in the world right into you multimillion dollar penthouse?"

"Nah, Snart is cool. We have an understanding."

Kurt just shook his head and chuckled, "Why am I not surprised."

Finally, the elevator reached Barry's floor, and which opened up directly into his penthouse. Two floors of stellar architecture and exquisite interior design. There were floor to ceiling windows covering the entirety of on the walls. On the left, a giant TV screen was mounded into the wall. On top the fireplace, Leonard could see multiple awards and trophies. For the third time that day. He was one again completely flabbergasted.

Approaching a small tableside, Barry picked up the crystal bottle of Courvoisier, and poured himself a cup. Taking a sip, he sighed, "Home Sweet Home."

"Good to have you back Twink." They heard a female voice say.

Up at the top of the stairs, was Santana Lopez, wearing a beautiful tight and short red dress with black killer heels.

"Missed me Satan?" Barry coyly asked.

Running down the stairs, Santana jumped into Barry's waiting arms.

Leonard stammered, "That's super model Santana Lopez. Barry Allen is getting hugged by super model Santana Lopez." He was ignored by everyone there.

Finally letting go of the long hug, she punched Barry in the shoulder.

"What was that for?" Barry asked while rubbing his now sore shoulder.

"_That_ was for not telling me you woke up from a nine month coma you jerk."

Chuckling, Barry puts his arm around Santana, "Oh Satan, I didn't know you cared about me that much. Care to show me exactly just how much you _appreciate me."_ Barry said, smirking suggestively.

Santana laughed out loud, while snaking an arm around his waist. Leaning into his ear, she whispered, "Not a chance in hell man whore."

Barry just chuckled once again, "That's what you said last time. And the time before that. And the time before that."

"Barry, stop hitting on Santana. It makes us all uncomfortable." Said a voice coming from another room.

Instantly recognizing it, Barry called out, "Not as uncomfortable as you and Quinn make us feel. Don't be a hypocrite Puckerman."

"That's Quinn Fabray's husband. As in _the _actress Quinn Fabray. How does Barry know all these people?!" Leonard was once more ignored.

Puck laughed at Barry, and came into view. Giving him a quick "manly" hug, he asked him, "Why aren't you ever on the group chat anymore? Do you know how annoying Jesse St Jackass is when he's complaining how 'his twin doesn't talk to him anymore'?"

"Group chat, what group chat?" Blaine asked, confused on why he wasn't a part of this.

Barry explained, "Do you remember that time in our senior year when you made a Super Hero club? Well, in retaliation, I sort of made a super villain one. We now have a group chat."

"A super Villain group chat? Scarlet is part of a Super Villain group chat? What parallel universe did I accidently step into?" Leonard quietly mumbled to himself.

Ignoring Snart completely, Blaine asked, "And who's part of this chat?"

Santana replied, "Originally, Bassy here started it, and recruited Jesse St Know-it-all and Hunter 'I'm an Asshat' Clarington. When we became friends, he added me, and then later Puckerman here joined. And really recently, Dave Karofsky joined. Apparently Bassy bumped into him at a Karaoke bar or something."

"Huh." Huffed Blaine.

"Oh come on Killer! Don't be jealous! You know how much I love you." Barry said to him in a sultry tone.

"Keep your hands off my man Smythe." Kurt warned him.

Laughing good naturedly, Barry and the rest heard the doorbell ring. "Looks like our last guest has arrived."

* * *

Felicity Smoak was not the type of girl who was good at hiding things. She especially wasn't good at hiding things from Oliver. So imagine her surprise when she found herself able to lie to Oliver about a fake family reunion, and take Ray's helicopter to New York to help Barry with some personal vendetta.

When she first found out about Barry's alter ego, it was completely by accident. Well, not exactly. A few weeks prior, Barry helped Team Arrow take down an old enemy of Oliver's. While he was undercover, he used the name Sebastian Smythe.

The curiosity killed her, so she decided there was no harm in typing in that name in YouTube. That was when she found video's of her favorite little nerd singing his heart out on stage, with thousands of members in the audience. A few videos and a couple of not-so-legal hacks later, she pretty much was aware of the full story containing Sebastian Smythe. It helped that one Blaine Anderson was absolutely obsessed with publically arguing with his brother Cooper, via Twitter, on who exactly Sebastian loved more.

Knowing that Barry probably wouldn't want the rest of Team Arrow finding out, she kept her friends alter ego to her self. And now, despite knowing Barry for the last three years, she at last meets Sebastian Smythe.

Once the doorman gave her the clearance, Felicity was able to use the elevator to go straight into Barry's penthouse. Entering the apartment, she couldn't help but gape.

Not only did the penthouse make Oliver's look modest in comparison, but also right in the middle was Barry Allen, Leonard Snart, and four more celebrities.

As always, Felicity automatically put her foot into her mouth, "Geez Barry, I know the tabloids say you're a man whore, but I didn't think it was to this extent!"

Santana automatically laughs, and puts her arm around Felicity's shoulders, "Oh, I like her Fieval. Can I keep her?"

Barry just rolls his eyes at his friend's antics. "Now that everyone is here, shall we begin?"


	22. So Cold part 3

"_Now that everyone is here, shall we begin?"_

Puckerman whistled under his breath after Barry finished telling his annoying elaborate scheme. "Damn Smythe, I honestly think that this is one of your craziest plans yet."

"Perhaps, but it might just be crazy enough to work." Blaine admitted.

"You're seriously planning on going through with this Scarlet? This is, after all, a crime." Leonard asked.

"I'll do whatever it takes." Barry stated firmly.

With a killer smirk, Santana jumped up from the couch, "Well then, we each know our role. Let's get started."

"Let phase one begin." Felicity announced.

* * *

_Phase 1:_

Leonard Snart was as cool as ice as he walked through the dimly lit bar. This was his comfort zone, surrounded by those with questionable backgrounds. Ordering his usual drink of vodka on the rocks, he leaned back against the bar, subtly watching all of the establishments occupants.

According to the Intel Barry's odd little blond friend somehow managed to dig up (he was actually very impressed by her hacking skills, and made a note to ask her to work for him), the men who attacked the Scarlet Speedsters friend usually hung out around here. Now, all he had to do was wait.

Thankfully, it wasn't for long, since at that very moment, a man Leonard recognized as Emmanuel Fray walked through the door. He was one of the three people that attacked that Jeff kid, and if Snart remembered straight, which he always did, he was also the one with the largest reputation. That made hi job marginally easier.

Downing the rest of his drink, Snart approached the booth Fray was in, and sat across from the soon to be prisoner. "I hear you're the man to come to when one needs a crew."

Fray quickly looked him up and down, and replied, "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you are talking about."

Continuing, Snart elaborated, "You see, I'm not from around here. But I've gotten some tips that are sure to make me a rich man. But I don't have my crew, which is why I'm even here talking to you. Now I don't have much time, it's honestly a simple question: Do you want to make money, or not?"

Fray had an indecisive look on his face, and it was obvious that he didn't trust Snart. However greed quickly won the battle, and took over, "I've got two boys. They're my regular crew. That enough?"

Snart smiled, "More than enough. Come; let's talk somewhere more private. Oh, and call those boys of yours." As he grabbed his discarded jacket and got out of the boot, he sent out a quick text message: "Commence phase 2."

"Whose the target?" Fray asked.

"A former French Model, Sebastian Smythe."

* * *

_Phase 2:_

While Snart was hiring his crew of thieves, Barry, Felicity, Blaine and Kurt stayed in the penthouse. Felicity Smoak was in the middle of doing what she does best: hacking everything from the FBI to traffic cams.

A ping went off on the computer she was working on. Turning around in her chair, she announced to the room, "Snart completed phase 1. Onto the second phase."

In the center of the living room, stood Barry and Blaine, both decked out in tuxedoes. Nodding to Felicity, Blaine took out his cellphone and snapped a selfie of he and Barry smiling.

He quickly posted it on twitter, along with the caption: "So excited to be spending the night at an art auction with my best friend! Love you Sebastian! Take that OfficialCooperAnderson !"

Barry chuckled as he read the tweet over Blaine's shoulder. "You know, I've been meaning to ask, but why are you and Cooper always fighting over me via Twitter?"

Blaine blushed and answered, "Well, it all started when Cooper tweeted that you were his best friend. Obviously, I tweeted back to correct him, that no, in fact, you were MY best friend. He then stated that he's known you longer, which I replied that you were my age, and the rest is history."

Kurt then interjected, "If I wasn't so secure in our marriage, I would feel really threatened by now."

"Aw, don't be jealous Lady Hummel! I do love you too!" Barry cooed.

"Get a hobby Smythe! Pretending to be gay isn't as funny anymore."

"Who says I'm pretending?"

"Anyways! It's time to start the video stream. Start it up honey." Blaine told his husband, ending the bickering.

Sighing, Kurt picked up the video camera, and with the go ahead from Felicity, started recording his husband and best man.

"Hello world of Twitter! I'm Blaine Anderson, and I'd like to thank you for joining my first live video stream! I'd also like to introduce you to my best friend, and best man of my wedding, Sebastian Smythe! He's a former French male model, and is currently a billionaire investor and company owner. To be honest I'm not exactly sure what he does. " Blaine said cheerfully into the camera.

Barry, now in complete Sebastian mode, smirked and greeted," Hey guys! Like killer over here said, the name's Sebastian Smythe. Nice to talk to you."

"So, the cool thing about this live stream is that you guys, the fans, can ask us questions that we answer. Just tag my name and hashtag #AskBlaine. Looks like we already got some questions!" Blaine exclaimed, looking at his phone. He then picks a random question, and asks out loud, "Dear Blaine, how did you meet this super hot guy? P.S. is Kurt jealous of him?"

Sebastian barks out in laughter, slinks his arms around his friends shoulders, and answers with a smirk, "We actually met in high school. I was Captain of Blaine's former Glee Club. He instantly fell in love with my good looks, great charm, and deliciously seductive voice. Honestly Lady Hummel never stood a chance."

Behind the camera, Kurt rolled his eyes at Sebastian's classic dramatics.

Blaine quickly interjected, "I actually hated him. He was an ass."

"A great ass."

Blaine rolled his eyes, "An ass nonetheless. But Kurt hated him a lot more."

"Which is understandable, I was everything Kurt wasn't: Hot, charming, irresistible, rich, smart, really I could go on and on."

"More like you persistently made fun of him every chance you got."

Sebastian just shrugged, "He got what was coming to him."

"Any who, it was actually my brother Cooper that made me really get close to Sebastian. Apparently the two of them became friends the year before when Coop was shooting a commercial in Paris. They apparently met at a café, and quickly became good friends. I'm glad for it too, despite being annoying sometimes, Bassy really is the best friend I could ever ask for."

"I always knew you secretly liked me killer." Sebastian said with a wink.

While all of this was going on, Felicity was checking Twitter. Already, Blaine's post had over 500 thousand retweets, while his live stream currently had over a million currently watching. She then sent out a message to Santana, saying, "Phase 2 complete. Begin Phase 3."

She received a message back saying, "Eye-eye hot stuff. Phase 3 is underway."

Felicity couldn't help but roll her eyes. Barry had some really weird friends.

* * *

_Phase 3:_

After replying to Felicity, Santana logged onto Blaine's live stream. Adjusting her seat on the bar, she looked at the bartender, "Isn't Smythe so dreamy?"

The bartender, a pretty young woman, looked at Santana's phone, where the video was playing, and replied, "I guess, if you're into his type."

"Honey, he's everyone's type. But I happen to be the lucky girl he's taking to the auction tonight." Santana stated proudly.

The bartender looked surprised, "Really? How did you manage that?"

Santana just gave her a look, as if she was mentally slow, "I'm a model, he's a model, how do you think? We met at a photo-shoot a few years back."

"Huh. That's crazy. But aren't you afraid? Smythe is rich, and this auction is a pretty big event. What if you get robbed or something?" The bartender asked, pouring her another drink.

Santana just scoffed, "Oh please, that's what Noah is here for." Pointing to Puckerman in the corner of the room, who has his arms folded and is staring directly at Santana. "He's Smythes personal body guard, and frankly, the only one he uses and needs. He's more than enough to deal with any threat. Now if you excuse me, I need to go get ready for this auction." Leaving her seat, Santana stumbles slightly in an obvious sign of tipsiness, before exiting the bar, Puckerman following her.

Pulling out her cell phone, the Bartender dials her boyfriend, Scott Franks, also known as one of the three who attacked Jeff. "Hey baby, remember when you said you were targeting Smythe? Well, I have some information for you. Apparently he'll only have one body guard as protection."

* * *

_Phase 4:_

The art auction took place in a grand ballroom in one of New Yorks finest hotels. Dozens of high-class members in society mingled around, taking a look at the options available to bid on.

With Santana hanging off his arm, Sebastian loudly exclaimed to his friend Blaine, "I am sure to win the Da Vinci. I have always wanted one of his paintings. There is no way I will leave the auction tonight without the painting."

"Cocktail sir?" Leonard Snart dresses as a waiter offered. That was the code word. All three muggers were in the building.

"Barry, I have sights on Fray, Scott, and Moores. Everything is going perfectly. Keep an eye on the west exit." Felicity told him through his earpiece.

"Thank you." Sebastian said as he accepted the cocktail from Leonard. Keeping an eye on Puckerman, who was lurking near by, he nodded towards him before making his way to the bidding room.

Art piece after art piece was shown and bought; however Sebastian bid on none; until the Da Vinci painting was uncovered.

He bid high, he bid fast, and all too soon the painting was declared to be his. "They're gonna move soon, stay on watch Barry." Felicity warned him.

Nodding at Santana, she took a wine flask, and turning abruptly, she 'accidently' poured it on Sebastian. Looking at his now soaking wet clothes, Santana apologized, while he dismissed it with a wave of his hand. He went straight for the bathroom to clean it up.

_Flashback_

_Barry sat around his penthouse along with the other members of this impromptu mission, as he explained his plan. _

"_Look, all you need to do Snart is convince the others that the best way to steal the Da Vinci painting is through me. Tell them you received a tip that I am 100% going to buy the painting. I have a few other plans to make sure that they think I'll be an easy mark. Now, the Da Vinci will be too heavily guarded before the auction. The time it is the least protected will be after the actual auction. Once the bidding has completed, Santana will make a distraction. This will give me some time before I actually have to go and pay for the painting. It is then when you will strike."_

_End of Flashback_

While Sebastian was trying to take the wine stains out of his suit, a commotion was occurring inside the bidding room. Fray, Scotts, and Moores, dressed up as waiters, took out guns, and kept the whole room hostage.

"Where is Snart man?! He's supposed to be here! The cops will be here soon!" Moores exclaimed.

"Calm down man! Snart said he'll be here, then he'll be here! Any minute now." Fray attempted to reassure his friend.

Minutes passed, as the thieves got more and more worried with each passing second. On the other side of the ballroom, Sebastian was still in the bathroom, happily humming to himself as he waited out what he knew to be a hostage situation outside.

The door to the bathroom opened, and in walked Leonard Snart.

"This has been fun Scarlet, despite your friends being more insane then you are. If you ever need this sort of help again, you know where to find me." Snart told Barry.

"I hope I'll never need you again. Remember, as soon as you walk out of those doors, you're back to being Captain Cold, one of the villains I work to put behind bars." Barry reminded him.

"Duly noted. Until next time, Flash." And with that, Snart walked out of the bathroom doors.

Chuckling, Barry got out his cellphone and dialed 911.

* * *

_Breaking News!_

_Criminals Emmanuel Fray, Scott Franks, and Wilson Moores imprisoned after holding an auctioneer event hostage. Thanks to an anonymous tip, FBI was able to send a swat team and apprehend the violent criminals. They are now serving a life sentence behind bars. Oddly, however, the Da Vinci painting, which was to be sold to Billionaire Sebastian Smythe, ended up mysteriously missing during the chaos. Was this all a work of a mastermind, or just an eerie coincidence? We may never know…_

* * *

Barry chuckled as he read the evening paper. Tossing it aside, he made his way down the hospital halls, and into room 203, where his friend was lying.

"You're not looking too good. But then again, you never did." Barry told his old friend with a smirk.

Laughing, Nick replied, "I still look better than you Meerkat."

Hugging his good friend, Barry jestered towards Jeff, who was still lying comatose on the bed, "How's he doing?"

"He'll be fine. The doctors say he should wake up any day now." Nick answered.

Running a hand through his hair, Barry replied, "Good, that's good."

"You just missed Blaine by the way. I'm pretty sure he went down stairs to get come food."

"Really? I'll go see how he's up to then. Need anything while I'm down there?"

"No, but thanks. I'm really glad you're here Bassy."

"Me too. I'll be right back." And with a final smile, Barry left the room and proceeded down to the cafeteria.

Plopping onto his friend's table, Barry asked, "Did you see the evening news?"

"I did. Good Job Bassy." Blaine complimented.

"Couldn't have done it without you Killer." Barry admitted.

"So, did Snart really take the painting?" Blaine whispered.

Shrugging, Barry replied, "Yeah, but he has more use for it than I do. Let him keep it."

"Whatever you say." Blaine relented.

Standing up, Barry said, "Come on, let's go keep Nick and Jeff some company. They always were hopeless without us."

Laughing, Blaine followed his best friend. Yeah, Barry decided, revenge really is sweet.


	23. Hogwarts

By far, Friday evenings were Barry's favorite time of the week. His workday ended early, and typically meta-humans tended to respect Friday's, and not attack as much. This meant that his Friday's were spent alone at home, since Joe and Iris both worked, watching marathons of his favorite movies. It truly was a relaxing time.

Last week, he had watched the musical RENT. He danced and sang along with every song with no fear of anyone coming near. It was the one time of the week where Barry could unleash all of his nerdiness and love of musicals.

This week, he decided to watch a marathon of one of his favorite movie franchises of all time: Harry Potter. Like most people his age, his childhood was filled with spells and magic, watching Harry fight for the good of the light against the Dark Lord. Most people connected to the characters of this movie, frankly, it was inevitable. Either it was brave Harry, who had to rise up against all odds. Or maybe Hermione, the brains behind everything. It could also be Ron, the best friend who stuck by his buddy through all odds.

Just when he was going to put in the disk for the first movie, his phone began to ring. Groaning, Barry answered his phone in anger. NO ONE interrupted his movie nights.

"WHAT!" He spit out without looking at the caller ID.

"Did I interrupt something?" A questioning male voice spoke.

Sighing, Barry answered, "No Cisco. What's up? Is there another meta human or something?"

"Nah, Caitlyn and I were bored. Wondering if you wanted to do anything."

Look at his box set of DVD's on the table, Barry tried to decline, "I'm sort of about to watch a movie so…"

"What movie?" Cisco interrupted.

"Harry Potter." Barry reluctantly answered.

"I LOVE that movie! We'll be there in 20. Don't start without us!" Cisco said right before hanging up.

"Great." Barry groaned. Well, there goes his alone time.

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. _Well that was fast, _Barry thought. Answering the door, he realized that it was definitely NOT Cisco and Caitlyn.

"HEY Lil Bro!" Cooper Anderson screamed out.

"Cooper?" Barry questioned, not quite believing his eyes. Giving Barry a massive hug, he walked in through the door.

"Nice place Bassy. A little modest for your usual taste but nice nonetheless. Then again, this does look like something your foster father would choose."

"What are you doing here Coop?" Barry asked in disbelief.

Copper shrugged, "I wanted to see you. Blaine and I got into another fight, so I wanted to spend time with my more understanding brother."

"What did you and Blaine fight about?" Blaine questioned understandingly. Cooper and Blaine used to fight a lot when they were younger. But around the same time Barry became friends with the both in them, they put aside their differences and became closer. However, every now and then old feelings will resurface, and the two would once again be at each other's throats.

"The same as usual. Bla bla, it's unethical to lie, bla bla. You know my brother, a self-righteous hero per usual. He's not like us Bas, doesn't understand the first thing about self-preservation. But you get it, and frankly, right now I need to be with someone who understands."

Nodding his head, Barry couldn't help but agree. There were very few in the world that saw things the way Cooper and he did. To them, the world was constantly grey, and in order to get ahead of the murky waters you did everything you could, ethical or not. You save your skin first, before you think of anyone else. Thinking about his little philosophy, Barry couldn't help but snicker. He was a superhero, and here he was thinking that the only person worth saving was himself.

"Well, I was just about to watch Harry Potter. Care to join?" Barry suggested.

"I'd love to." Cooper agreed, taking a seat next to Barry on the couch. At that moment, the door once again rang, and Barry bit back a curse.

"Damn, I forgot they were coming. Once second Coop."

Opening the door, Barry saw Caitlyn and Cisco there holding a bucket of popcorn. "We are ready for a Potter marathon!" Cisco declared walking into the house.

It was then they saw Cooper sitting on the couch. "Hey guys." Coop said with a smile.

"You guys remember Cooper Anderson. Coop, my friends Cisco and Caitlyn. You met last time you were in town." Barry introduced, closing the door and taking his previous seat.

Picking their jaws off the floor, Caitlyn said, "Hi Cooper, wonderful to see you again."

"Oh my god Cooper Anderson. What are you doing here?" Cisco cried.

"Just visiting my baby bro. Now, let's watch this movie!" Cooper answered, pressing play on the movie.

They watched the movie mostly in silence, however they couldn't help but make comments every once in a while. When they reached the part about the sorting hat, Caitlyn asked, "Hey, if we were all in Hogwarts, what house would we be in?"

"Well, Gryffindor is for the brave and chivalrous, Hufflepuff for the kind and loyal, Ravenclaw for the intelligent and creative, and Sytherin for the cunning and ambitious. I would definitely be in Ravenclaw. I love my inventions and science too much to be anywhere else." Cisco replied.

"I'd probably be in Ravenclaw as well. Dr. Wells too most likely." Caitlyn said.

"Hmm. I'd most likely be a Slytherin. I could be quite devious, and my moral compass isn't the most fine tuned. My brother Blaine on the other hand is such a Gryffindor, it physically hurts me." Cooper said.

"What do you think the rest of out group would be?" Barry asked his old friend.

"Santana for sure is a Slytherin. St James and Puckerman as well. Oh, and that weird steroid loving military dude that your friends with is also a pure Slytherin. Blaine and Rachel are Gryffindor. Kurt, probably a Hufflepuff. Too kind for his own good really. Brittany and Quinn as well now that I think about it. Artie is Ravenclaw." Cooper Anderson answered after some thinking.

"Huh, your probably right. Iris and Joe are also Gryffindor's. So willing to jump straight into danger, regardless of their own personal safety. Annoying really." Barry informed with a shake of his head.

"And you Barry? You're probably a Hufflepuff. You are really kind and loyal. Although you could possibly also be a Ravenclaw, there are few in the world as smart as you." Caitlyn said.

"No way! Barry is such a Gryffindor!" Cisco exclaimed.

"Yeah you're probably right. He is willing to do anything for his loved ones." Caitlyn confirmed.

At this, Cooper burst out laughing. "Gryffindor!? Are you kidding me?! Bassy would NEVER be a Gryffindor, they annoy the hell out of him. Jumping in front of danger and all. No, my little brother is exactly like me: A Slytherin, through and through."

"Slytherin? You're kidding. Barry is way to kind for that." Caitlyn disagreed.

"Nope. He's a Slytherin. There are few willing to go the lengths Bassy is willing all in the name of self-preservation. He's cunning, calculating, and immensely skilled at hiding his true self and emotions. Really, it's quite terrifying." Cooper informed them.

"What lengths did Barry got through?" Caitlyn questioned.

"Hasn't he ever told you about his time in the orphanage? If that doesn't scream Slytherin, than I don't know what does." Cooper said with a laugh.

"Orphanage? Barry never stayed in an orphanage. He was adopted by Joe." Cisco said.

"Actually, Joe was the lead in the case against my father. While the trial was still ongoing, I couldn't stay with Joe, since it had the opportunity to tint his objective views. So while the trial was still going on, I had to stay in an Orphanage. I was there for 4 months before I finally was able to move in with Joe. But that's a story for another time. Frankly though, I agree with Cooper. I am 100% Slytherin." Barry informed.

"What happened to you in that Orphanage?" Caitlyn asked, worried for her friend.

"A lot." Barry answered vaguely.

"How much?" Cisco asked.

"Enough to make me put aside my morals, and embrace the Slytherin side of my personality with pride." Barry answered truthfully.

Many believe Sebastian Smythe was born in a French Café halfway through high school. And perhaps that is true in the literal sense. But the cutthroat personality that Sebastian was famous for, that developed in the Orphanage. But that is a story for another time.

_**A/N So, as you can all tell, I'm a huge Slytherin supporter as well as Harry Potter fan. Sorry if you didn't understand all the references, but I couldn't help myself from writing this.**_

_**Anywho, my birthday is this Sunday, and as a small Celebration, I was thinking of writing a small one-shot as if everyone was in Hogwarts. Tell me what you think. Thanks!**_


	24. The Orphanage

**Barry Allen: Age = 11**

It has been 14 hours since Henry Allen was wrongfully accused of murdering his lovely wife, Nora Allen. In the 14 hours since, Bartholomew Allen has practically screamed himself horse, calling for his fathers innocence. The man in the lightning killed his mom, not Henry. However, no one believed it.

'It was grief', they said. Policemen couldn't help but feel bad for the poor boy who watched his father kill his mother. 'His mind must have made up a story to preserve his sanity', they said, as if Barry couldn't hear them.

Frankly, Barry was still in denial. He didn't want to believe that his mother was dead, he couldn't. Who would help him when he got bullied? Who would get him his glass of water when he was in bed? Who would take care of him when he was sick? Who would love him?

In these last 14 hours, all of Barry's questions were answered. Despite being in pain and misery, he was a genius. Therefore he knew the answer was this: No one.

Detective Joe West was the only man Barry trusted, he was also the man that was the most hell-bent on making sure that Henry Allen never saw the outside of a prison cell. But he was Barry's only hope. His daughter, Iris, was Barry's best friend, so surely Joe would help him.

And he did. He argued, he fought, he wanted to adopt Barry as his own, but Joe was the lead detective of the case against his father. 'It would be unethical', they said. So Joe relented, and was determined to speed up the process even faster, so that Barry could have an actual home. Barry should have hated this man, the person who arrested his father, but he knew that if Joe didn't, another detective that didn't care about Barry at all would. Joe, at least, was willing to give him a home.

And so it was Joe West that dropped him off at Central City Orphanage. A group home for young boys and girls who don't have anywhere else to turn to, located on the opposite side of Barry's old home.

"While you are here, Barry, you can't go to your normal school." Joe told him.

"Why not?" He asked, despite knowing the answer.

"The orphanage is too far. Instead, you will go to Central Academy, it's a good school, only a five minute walk from here." Joe explained.

"Joe… When... When can I leave this place?" Barry asked.

Joe answered with a heart-broken look on his face, "I will try to get you as soon as I can, ok? Stay strong until then."

"Until then". Barry said, nodding his head in affirmative.

* * *

_**Month 1:**_

Barry hated everything about this place. He hated the orphanage, the food, the caretakers, the people, hell, he even hated the school. Everyone heard about 'poor Barry Allen', whose father killed his mother. The bullies in particular were particularly vicious, but Barry ignored them all with a grace he didn't know he possessed. He was completely apathetic to the world around him.

For the first two weeks, between dealing with the fact that his mother was really dead, the fact his father was imprisoned, and the added nuisance of his foster siblings, it took every thing within him to keep his sanity intact.

By the end of the 2 weeks, Barry finally snapped.

One of his foster siblings was an older kid named Alex; a 13 year old middle schooler with a bad attitude, who's been part of the orphanage his entire life. It was during a regular breakfast, when things finally went to hell.

"So Allen, I heard you're going to visit your dad next weekend. Are you sure you're going to be safe with the murderer?" Alex teased.

Now, for the last two weeks, every time someone would tease him, Barry wouldn't respond at all. This time, he spoke.

"At least I have a father. Now tell me, where's yours? Were they so ashamed of you that they had no choice but to leave your ugly mug at an orphanage? I always did imagine you to be quite the hideous little baby." Barry sneered.

"Barry Allen!" The caretaker, a woman known as Sister Meredith, cried.

"What's this? Barry Allen actually can speak?" Alex mocked.

"Yes, I can. I just usually choose to not speak to you, since conversing with you tends to significantly reduce my IQ. I can feel it plummeting at this very moment. Oh dear, whatever shall I do?"

"Bartholomew! Stop this instant!" Sister Meredith cried. Funny, how she only noticed it when Barry did something wrong.

"What did you say about me Allen?" Alex said menacingly.

"Oh? Should I speak slower? Allow me to say once more. You- are- an- idiot." Barry mocked.

"Barry! Go to your room! Right this instant!" Sister Meredith commanded.

Bowing slightly, Barry retorted, "Whatever you say, your highness." And with that, Barry grabbed an apple from the table, and went back to his room.

And with that, the famous snark Sebastian Smythe was famous for, was born.

* * *

_**Month 2:**_

Ever since that fateful day in the kitchen, Barry has turned into what essentially will be known in the future as Smythe Mode.

Barry was dealing with a lot of horrid emotion because of his mothers death, so to take his mind off of it, Barry dealt with it the best way he knew how: Using cunning and intelligence.

The orphanage was a hierarchy, the meaner you were, the higher up you were in the food chain. By the second month, Barry held the entire residents of foster children in the palm of his hand. It was all for self-preservation.

"Carry my bags." Barry would order one of the children as they walked to school.

"Bring me my lunch." Barry would command his foster brothers, as he was too busy doing whatever in his room.

"Lower your gaze, after all, I am your superior." Barry would snark when one of his 'siblings' began to get cocky.

One of his foster brothers, a boy his age named Terry, didn't like this. He tried to stand up for himself. Barry felt his position was threatened, and did what any Slytherin loving snake would do: he attacked.

The next day, Terry was bald, his head covered in permanent marker. Pictures of him in the shower were printed out, and posted all over the school. Every hallway, every class, every locker had a picture of him. The schools website even contained the picture on its home page. The best part: No one could prove it was Barry. But that day at the orphanage, all it took was one look at Barry's smug face, and they knew. No one tried to undermine Barry again.

* * *

_**Month 3:**_

By the time the third month rolled around, the caretakers had begun to notice the shift. Barry Allen commanded everything that went down, and for some reason, the other kids obeyed.

At first, they tried to talk with him. Sister Abigail was great with children, so she called Barry into her office for a chat.

"The children here seem to respect you." She mentioned.

"So they do." He would calmly and casually respond.

"It is a nice shift from when you first came here." She noticed.

"It certainly is different."

"Would you happen to know what caused the shift?"

"How am I supposed to understand their thoughts?"

"Perhaps you are aware of something you did that changed their thoughts of you."

"What are you insinuating?"

"Nothing. I merely want to understand."

"Well, perhaps you should stick to your job of making sure we are fed, and stop trying to understand the thought patterns of pre-pubescent children. Now if you excuse me, I will take my leave."

Needless to say, talking didn't have much of an effect.

Next, they tried to reason with him. Sister Abigail once more called Barry into her office.

"You are taking advantage of these children." She said.

"Am I?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You are well aware of what you are doing. You should stop, you are a kind hearted boy Barry, this isn't like you."

"With all due respect, you do not know me."

"I do. And I know you are not a bully."

"You are right. I'm not. So if I can go, it would be much appreciated."

"Your mother wouldn't want this."

"My mother is dead. So don't presume to know what she does, or doesn't want." Barry stated with unconcealed anger, before throwing open the door, and marching out of the room.

Next, they threatened him.

Sister Meredith sat him down at the kitchen counter.

"You will stop this Mr. Allen, or I will have to resort to desperate measures." She stated, her mouth straight in anger.

"Stop what sister?" Barry inquired.

"You are well aware of what you are doing."

"Am I?"

"You, Mr. Allen, are a bully, and have been forcing the other children in the orphanage to do your bidding. I will not stand for this intolerance any longer!" She cried.

Barry crossed his legs, "So, tell me, did any child come to you specifically and say that I was bullying them?"

Sister Meredith faltered for a second, "Well, no, not exactly."

"And had anyone even shown any signs or symptoms that correlate with bullying?"

"Well.. No… but—"

"So basically, you have no proof."

"I do not need proof! I-"

"Yes. Yes you do. Well, this was a colossal waste of my time, inform me when you get some proof." With a final smirk, Barry jumped out of his chair, and walked away.

Next, they attempted to get the children to speak out against him. But all it took was a reminder of the Terry incident, and every child snapped their mouth shut. They wouldn't betray their leader.

* * *

_**Month 4:**_

By the time the fourth month approached, Barry was forced to see a child psychologist every week. This was due to two main reasons: 1) He still believed that his father was innocent, and that his mother was killed by a man in lightning. 2) His caretakers at the orphanage have filed one too many complaints about him.

He was taken to a psychologist named Dr. Harkins. He was a leading child psychologist, well known for his cases, and well respected. Barry instantly despised the arrogant man.

"Tell me Barry, once more, what happened that night?" Dr. Harkins asked.

"Well, lets see… First, I ate some ramen. It was stale by the way, completely unacceptable. Then I watched a movie, I forgot the name, it was pretty good though. I ate some Pocky, have you ever eaten Pocky? It's amazing! One of my favorites, really. Someday, I'm going to go to Japan, and buy hundreds of boxes of that stuff! Then, I planned world domination along with my vampire boyfriend as we made love to the sound of ice tea being stirred." Barry narrated.

"Allen, take this seriously! I meant, what happened the night your mother was murdered." The Doctor explained.

Holding back what was obviously a fake sob, Barry cried, "You monster! How dare you remind me of that tragedy! What kind of Child Psychologist are you!" Somehow, making real tears appear, he jumped out of seat and ran out the door, straight into Joe West's arms, crying to him about the 'traumatizing experience' he just had in the doctor's office.

The second time Barry went to see the Doctor, Harkins made sure to stay far away from the topic of Barry's parents, for the sake of his future career. He did not want an angry Joe West yelling in his office once more.

"The caretakers tell me you have been causing quite the stir amongst the other children." He says.

Shrugging, Barry replied, "The caretakers say many things. I wouldn't take what they say to heart, however, those women are notorious gossips."

"So you say. Do their insinuations hold any truth?"

"You said it yourself, that's all they are: insinuations. You really aren't that good of a psychologist, are you?" Barry guessed.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Well, for one, you believe those cranky ladies. Do you take everything people say at face value?"

"No-"

"You know, that says a lot about your personality."

"I'll have you know, I-"

"And there you go, talking about yourself again. It's always 'me, me, me' with you, isn't it? Aren't I the patient?"

"Now wait a minute-"

"You have the awful habit of interrupting me. I bet you like to hear the sound of your own voice, huh? Have you ever been checked for Narcissistic Personality Disorder?"

"Excuse me?"

"There we go! Again with the 'me'! You know, I happen to know a psychologist. Not a real one, mind you, but Sister Abigail at the orphanage certainly thinks she's one. She much better than you anyways."

The third, and final time they met, Dr. Harkins decided to stick to safer grounds.

"How was your day?" He asked, hoping for a normal answer.

"Well, after the blood sacrifice, everything seemed to go uphill. I mean, sheesh! I love harems! Especially all male ones! I'm so glad my vampire boyfriend and I decided to have an open relationship! This makes my life so much more interesting! Now don't get me wrong, he's great and all, but Yaoi harems are so much more exciting! And there's that thing this one guy does with his tongue-" Barry started.

Standing up, Dr. Harkins started yelling, finally loosing his cool, "THAT IS IT! WHERE DID YOU LEARN SUCH AWFUL WORDS?! HAREM!? TOUNGUES?! YOU YOUNG MAN, ARE SICK!"

Joe West chose that moment to come barging in, "What happened, I heard yelling!"

Looking up at the detective with tear filled eyes, Barry cried, "That man is a pervert! And what's a harem?"

Dr. Harkins was never employed with children ever again.

* * *

By the end of Barry's four-month stay, everyone was thankful that he was gone. With a smile on his face, Barry made his way into the West home, hugging Iris, and dropping his bags. He then proceeded to bury that aspect of his personality deep down, where it wouldn't be disturbed. That is, until a fateful day in a café in Paris, when Sebastian Smythe was introduced to the world.


End file.
